


TSCLCP [now i am an architect]

by MelodramaticMrTails



Category: DCU, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Injury, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, M/M, Minor Character Death, Physical Abuse, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:28:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23270995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticMrTails/pseuds/MelodramaticMrTails
Summary: Leonard Snart, quiet but brilliant Central City architect, lives a good life; he has his sister, his partner, and almost never has to worry about the Flash showing up to murder him for no reason since he isn't a meta. After a random breach pulls him from his home Earth 43 to Earth 1, Len begins to wonder if there's something wrong with his Earth and his Flash. Then he begins to wonder if there's anything he can do about it.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Cisco Ramon, Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Comments: 31
Kudos: 97





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlackBat09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackBat09/gifts).



A very simple sound distracts them from the task at hand, urging a hushed silence over the room. Both Eobard and Cisco glance at Caitlin who makes a curious, but pleased, expression. 

"Sounds like our patient is waking up," she confirms. It's about that time, yes. Eobard has been waiting and preparing a very long time for this and finally they enter the finale. Cisco eagerly follows Caitlin towards their makeshift ward and Eobard trails behind. Seeing Barry finally awake after all these months is, admittedly, very exciting. Barry's clearly perplexed, figuring out where he is and everything he's attached to but he doesn't seem to be panicking at least. 

"Barry Allen?" Caitlin greets quietly and he looks up at her. She smiles and Barry offers a mute, sheepish smile in return. "Good morning. I'm Caitlin Snow. I've been your doctor here at Star Labs for a while." 

"Star Labs?" Barry repeats back curiously. "What- happened?" 

"You were struck by lightning during the particle accelerator accident," she explains. "We brought you here to see if we could help you. You've been in a coma for eight months." 

"I kind of remember that, yeah," he murmurs. "I was in my lab and then- here. What happened with the accelerator?" Caitlin looks back at Eobard unsurely so, of course, he steps in. 

"A catastrophic failure, I'm afraid," he assures. Barry looks at him then Cisco and back again. 

"How do you feel?" Caitlin asks. 

"Good? Is that weird?" Barry replies. "I definitely don't feel like I just came out of a coma." Good enough, in fact, that he gets to his feet to stretch out. The speedforce in his system, for the most part, has negated most of the negative effects one would suffer from being in a coma as long as he has been. He is in perfect health. 

"Easy," Caitlin urges. "Try not to strain yourself too much. We're not fully sure what the dark matter in your system has done to you yet." 

"Dark matter?" Barry asks curiously. 

"When the accelerator failed, it released a 'wave' of dark matter," Eobard explains. "It- killed many but for others, it seems to have fused with their systems. We're still trying to understand what this means for most. Needless to say, most people aren't too eager to work with us after what happened, though." 

"Except coma patients," Barry asks in amusement. Eobard smiles mutely. "Well, like I said, I feel fine. What exactly should I be expecting?" 

"It's hard to say," Caitlin answers. "But your system has one of the highest concentrations of dark matter we've seen so far. Now that you're awake, we'd like to do some more tests if you don't mind." Barry is distracted almost immediately. He looks at his hand curiously as he vibrates it fast enough to _phase_. This catches Eobard off guard. There's no way he should be fast enough to do that yet. He's _just_ come out of his coma, the most he should be capable of is short duration sprints. This is unprecedented. Barry puts his hand in Caitlin's chest. 

The sheer horror on her face is evident immediately though to her credit, she manages to remain calm. Which is good because startling Barry while he's doing that would almost certainly mean her death. Barry, on the other hand, doesn't even seem to notice as he turns his hand over _inside_ her chest, distinctly fascinated by what he's doing. 

"Whoa! Okay! Hands out of your doctor!" Cisco yelps when it becomes clear no one else is going to stop this. Barry quickly retracts his hand. 

"Oh. Sorry," he says. Caitlin discreetly, but swiftly, puts some room between her and Barry. "I definitely couldn't do that before. Is that a side effect?" 

"It's likely," Eobard assures smoothly. Caitlin holds a hand over her chest while she tries to catch her breath without panicking. That was- odd. Barry appears to be completely indifferent to Caitlin's distress; a very unBarry thing. "You seem to be able to vibrate your molecules at the same frequency as air, ergo allowing you to 'phase'." 

"Cool," Barry murmurs. Cisco doesn't look happy. 

"How about we watch where we're using that thing, okay?" he insists. 

"I'd be interested in exploring this further," Eobard says. "When you're ready, of course. You must be able to move at incredible speeds to accomplish something like that. For now, you must want to let your friends and family know you're okay." Barry looks at him in amusement then to Caitlin and Cisco who don't seem to get the joke either. When he realises they're serious, he laughs. 

"I don't have family?" he replies. "You think you would have been able to keep me here eight months without them worrying about me?" Eobard exchanges looks with Caitlin and Cisco. That is, unfortunately, a good point. He supposes they sorted that under 'deal with it when they get there' and they never got there. The only person who followed up on them taking him out of the hospital was Singh. 

Something here is wrong. 

"Don't really have friends either," Barry admits sheepishly. "I threw myself into my work so much, it's really just me. I do have a job I'd like to keep, though. I should probably go deal with that." 

Did this Barry never get taken in by Joseph West? What would have caused that? Obviously it's not that important if it hasn't changed the future timeline. How could that be? 

"I did speak to Captain David Singh," Eobard assures. "He is aware you're here and that you were in a coma." Even Singh only checked in once. Not having to explain what he was doing with Barry never struck Eobard as a particular issue so he had never made it into one. Perhaps that was a slight oversight. It seems strange that this could go so far without him realising something was wrong. 

But the timeline remains unchanged. Perhaps it really doesn't matter. 

"Thanks," Barry says with a grin. "I guess I'll go talk to him, then. When should I be back?" 

"Tomorrow would be excellent," Eobard says. "We'll get some tests ready for you to see exactly what this dark matter has done." Barry nods. 

Then he's on the other side of the room, urgently grabbing onto the door frame to hold himself up. Well, he is still fast at least. His powers seem to have manifested correctly. Barry looks back at them, eyes wide in alarm, and there's a moment where they simply stare back at him. 

"He has super speed!" Cisco announces. "That's so _cool_!" 

"That explains the vibrating, yes," Eobard agrees. "Fascinating. Can you do that again?" So Barry bolts to the other side of the room. This, actually, might be good. Eobard was expecting Barry to have an issue coming into his powers but for having just gotten them, he's already moving at an incredible rate. Not to mention he's capable of phasing and seems to naturally be finding his balance. Perhaps the Wests really were holding him back. 

"Okay, this is pretty cool," Barry agrees excitedly. "I'll admit, I _definitely_ wasn't coming back tomorrow but now I'm actually interested in what's going on." Or this could be very bad. If Barry is less reliant on Eobard to teach him, gaining his trust may be more difficult. He'll have to do something about that. 

"Treadmill," Cisco says, already hastily leaving the room. "We need a treadmill!" 

"This explains some 'abnormalities' in your test results as well," Caitlin says thoughtfully. "I should go over them again." 

"I can show you out, Mr. Allen," Eobard offers. Barry smiles at him. He moves slow, making sure he's not going to suddenly run again, and once he's sure he has a handle on it, follows Eobard much easier. 

"It really is exciting to meet you, Dr. Wells," Barry says once they're out of earshot of anyone else. "I've been in love with your work since forever." Hearing someone he idolized for so long compliment him, even under guise of another, is so supremely satisfying. 

"I just hope I can help you," Eobard assures. "After everything I've done, I do feel responsible." Barry grins at him. Just as he's about to mention the potential discoveries to be made with Barry's powers, however, Barry fortunately speaks first. 

"What do you want?" he asks. 

"Pardon?" Eobard replies curiously. 

"You know, from me?" Barry asks. He smiles as he looks around the empty building. "I'm the only one you want to help? And don't tell me no one else would take you up on this offer because we both know that's not true." 

"Would you have?" Eobard asks in return. "Had you not been in a coma?" Barry just looks at him for a long time. It's- weirdly unnerving. 

"Okay," he finally says pleasantly. Eobard feels like he's dodged a minefield somehow. He'll need to rethink how he's going to approach Barry in the future. "But I know guys like you, Dr. Wells. Try to force me into something I don't want and you're going to need a breathing tube to operate that wheelchair." 

Oh. Hm. This Barry is mean. 

"I will keep that under consideration," Eobard promises easily. Barry threatening him bodily is pretty arousing but he controls himself, of course. 

"Good," Barry says, climbing into the elevator. "I'll see you tomorrow?" 

"Of course," Eobard assures. "I'll be here." 

He goes to check the timeline again just in case. 

X

Barry is happy to be out of those hospital clothes more than anything. Also to have a real shower. Aside from waking up in a lab, nothing really feels like he's been asleep for eight months. He feels well rested and strangely energetic but perhaps that really is just from all the sleep. Or his new speed thing. That's sure a thing he has now. He's careful not to let anyone else know he has it but he's also been testing it out on his own. He heals extremely fast, that much is obvious right away and likely is the reason he doesn't have any usual symptoms coma patients wake up with. 

It's also very apparent he's processing information a lot faster than he used to, as well, and in return his reflexes match his speed. Unfortunately, he still seems to be incredibly clumsy. He didn't like that mug that much, anyways. 

"Barry," West greets him in surprise the moment he sees him. He gets up from his desk and Barry's mood immediately sours a little. "How are you doing? I didn't hear you were coming back today. Singh said you were in a coma." 

"Singh should remember my medical information is private and he shouldn't be handing it out freely," Barry replies with a smile. This isn't the first time he's had to tell Singh not to share his information with West. For as much as West wishes it were true, he has no business in Barry's business. "I'm actually on my way to talk to him if you don't mind." West sighs. 

"Course," he says, gesturing for Barry to continue on his way. Barry gladly does so, not wanting to exchange anymore words with West than necessary. He knocks on Singh's door and lets himself in when beckoned. 

"Allen?" Singh greets in perplexity. "You're awake. I was expecting a call or something when you came out of it?" 

"I just woke up today," Barry assures. "Figured it was just as well I came down here myself to let you know." 

" _Today_? Allen, should you _be_ up and around already? You can have time to rest, you know," Singh insists. 

"Star Labs' doctor gave me a clean bill of health," Barry promises with a grin. Minus the dark matter, of course, but Singh doesn't need to know that. "And I feel great, honestly! Really, I just want to get back to work." Singh looks unconvinced but he obviously can tell Barry is feeling good and there's nothing for him to argue on. He's free to call Star Labs and confirm if he really wants to. 

"I can't say we aren't ready to have you back," he murmurs, beginning to dig through his desk. He hands Barry his badge back and Barry grins pleasantly as he takes it. "Cases might have piled up while you were gone. Glad to have you back." Now that's what he wants to hear. He's sure they've gone through some temps while he was gone but Singh wouldn't dare try to replace him knowing he might come back. Plus, that means Barry has a good reason to test out what this speed is actually good for. 

"Glad to be back," Barry assures, clipping his badge back on. "Oh, by the way, if I've asked you once, I've asked you a hundred times, Singh, private information is _private_. Joe West isn't privy to that." 

"He was just worried about you," Singh insists stubbornly. No matter how much he pushes, Barry isn't going to make any more of an effort to get along with West than he already does. "Wouldn't stop badgering me to check up on you every other week, either."

"I really don't care what West feels," Barry assures with some irritation. "I don't want him in my business. Am I really asking that much, captain?" 

"No," Singh admits with a sigh. "I'm sorry, Allen. I'll make sure he backs off, okay?" Barry sighs. 

"Good. Thank you," he murmurs. Singh nods at him and Barry takes that as a dismissal. He's eager to get to work anyways. Exiting the office isn't much different. 

"Barr! You're back!" Thawne announces eagerly. Barry ignores him outright as he passes by to head up to his lab. "Okay! We'll catch up later! Welcome back!" 

"Eddie, he doesn't like you," West says quietly. "Let it go." 

Singh wasn't kidding when he said things had piled up. Barry's lab is full of boxes and unsorted files. He closes the door behind him and immediately starts off to work. Anything he's sure he won't accidentally contaminate, he tests out with his speed. Sorting and filling out forms becomes immensely easy which leaves more time for Barry to do more physical work. His lab is back to organized in under an hour and most of his cases are now right on track to being done in a timely manner. 

Barry pulls back to normal speed when he hears someone approach his door. There's a series of knocks before Thawne lets himself in. Like a broken clock, West is right about things sometimes; Barry _doesn't_ like Thawne, either. 

"Detective," Barry greets from where he's now filing at a snail's pace. "Can I do something for you?"

"Brought you some coffee," Thawne says, setting it down on his desk. Barry looks at it then back to Thawne in unamusement. 

"I don't drink caffeine," he says. Thawne doesn't say anything for a few seconds before knocking the cup off into the trash. He grins extra bright. 

"So," he says instead. "I was thinking we could get together and maybe catch you up on some things you missed? You've been out for a while so it would probably be for the best." 

"I'm actually busy right now," Barry replies, gesturing the work he still has to do. 

"Right, I meant later. Like _after_ work," Thawne assures. 

"We're really not supposed to discuss cases off the clock," Barry reminds him. 

"There's more to catch up on than just work," Thawne promises. Barry goes back to solely focusing on filing now.

"Thanks, Thawne, but I think I'll pass," he says. "There's a lot of work to do here and Star Labs wants me back in the morning." Thawne frowns. 

"Yeah, okay," he agrees. "Maybe some other time?" 

"Maybe," Barry replies non-committally. He waits patiently for Thawne to leave before returning to speed filing. 

X

Barry's results are- alarming in a way. Eobard wasn't expecting him to come out of the gate being able to reach speeds like this. He's either going to have to discreetly lame him a bit or speed up this process _significantly_. Considering the results are a bit sensitive, Eobard's leaning to the first but that's just a matter of how to accomplish such a thing without tipping Barry off. This Barry- likely wouldn't respond well to finding out Eobard is trying to hold him back. 

It's still so interesting such a slight chance has resulted in Barry being so _mean_. 

"Is he going to break the sound barrier?" Cisco asks quietly. "If he creates a sonic boom- our lab isn't ready for that." No, fortunately he's not going to make it that far. 

"Mr. Allen," Eobard speaks into the mic. "Our equipment isn't capable of handling your top speed yet, you're going to need to-" And suddenly Barry passes out. He's launched off the treadmill in a heap into the boxes behind it. Good ol' metabolism crash. "Slow down." 

"Yep, he's unconscious," Cisco confirms. 

"He did mention he was feeling faint yesterday after using his powers," Caitlin offers. "Good thing he heals quick?"

"It looks like his blood sugar has dropped dramatically," Eobard murmurs. 

"His metabolism must have changed," Caitlin agrees, looking over the results of their testing with him. "His body must have burned through anything it could find to keep his speed up." Barry rustles around in the boxes. 

"You good, buddy?" Cisco asks. Barry holds up a thumbs up. 

"Boxes made it worse!" he assures. "The boxes didn't help, Cisco!" 

"Can you work out a new diet for Mr. Allen?" Eobard asks. Caitlin nods thoughtfully. 

"Sure," she agrees. "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime-" 

"Granola and sugar!" Cisco says. "I'm on it." They go their separate ways and Eobard watches as Barry pulls himself out of the pile of boxes he's made. He ruffles himself and takes a moment to catch his breath despite not actually being out of it. 

"You've had a metabolic crash, Mr. Allen," Eobard informs. "You'll be alright but in the future, you'll have to make sure you keep energy in your body while you run. Caitlin is working the numbers over for you now." Barry looks at his hands a bit before getting to his feet and brushing himself out. 

"Besides that," he says. "How did I do?" 

"There's no 'good' or 'bad'," Eobard assures. "We were simply gathering information." 

"Okay, how did I _actually_ do, Dr. Wells?" Barry asks again pointedly. Manipulating Barry isn't going to be as simple as throwing a few well articulated words at him. He's more volatile than expected and predicting how he's going to react is going to take more study. 

"Good enough," Eobard says. Barry doesn't look impressed. 

He brings Barry out to the main lab and Cisco gives him some dense food to hold him over for the time being. Barry, sure enough, scarfs it down hungrily. He gives Cisco a friendly smile though Cisco seems faintly alarmed and impressed at the rate in which Barry empties the gallon bag of trail mix. An alarm on one of their monitors gets everyone's attention and pulls Caitlin from her lab. 

"What is that?" Barry asks curiously. Cisco taps around until he finally brings up a weather map for them to see. 

"That would be a tornado forming extremely rapidly," he informs. "That apparently came out of fucking nowhere." 

"How can that be?" Caitlin asks worriedly. 

"If the dark matter has given Allen his speed," Eobard murmurs. "I wonder what it has given other people." 

"Do you have a police scanner?" Barry asks. 

"Do I have a police scanner," Cisco scoffs back. Barry arches a brow at him. "Yeah, I have a police scanner. Give me a second." He opens it up and Barry listens thoughtfully to the police jargon; a bunch of codes and call signs. Barry makes an interested face. 

"Care to share, Mr. Allen?" Eobard asks. 

"Oh, right," Barry murmurs. "It sounds like Mark Mardon is creating the tornado unless they've changed his call signs since I've been in a coma but I doubt it. They've sent West and Thawne out to deal with it but they're already calling in backup. Considering West killed Mardon's brother, as police are want to do, it's not surprising he's out for blood." 

"Mardon?" Caitlin questions. 

"Thief, murderer, general shitstain," Barry explains with a shrug. "His brother got what was coming to him and if he doesn't throw West into the stratosphere first, he's likely next." Eobard blinks rapidly. Hearing Barry talk like this is still off putting to say the least. 

"That seems a little harsh," Cisco murmurs. Barry shakes his head in amused disagreement. "Oh! Why don't you go help him?" 

"I'm pretty sure if Detective West dies at all, they're already going to put me at the top of his suspect list so I don't think _actually_ helping kill him is going to do me any favors," he replies. 

" _No_ ," Cisco says slowly. "I meant _help Detective West, Barry_!" 

"Oh," Barry says. He crosses his arms. "No, I don't really want to do that. If you couldn't tell, I don't actually like West." 

"But consider," Cisco says, skittering around the console excitedly. "Consider. If you _do_ , you get to wear this." He presses the button to reveal the suit he's been working on and gestures to it eagerly. Barry stares for a moment. 

"Why would I _want_ to wear that?" he asks curiously. 

"Oh come on, man," Cisco insists. "Look at it! This thing is a work of _art_. We can monitor all of your vitals, collect our data, it'll help protect you from wind burn _and_ if you fall, road rash. Built in communications, tracking-" 

"Stop talking," Barry cuts him off. "Is there even anything I can do?" 

"You have your speed," Cisco encourages. "If you can get enough speed and run _opposite_ the wind flow, you should be able to cancel it out. Then, you know, you can deal with Mardon no problem." Barry doesn't look particularly convinced or interested for that matter. 

"Well," Eobard says. "If we're not going to do anything, we better evacuate. If Mardon really is affected by the dark matter, there's no telling what kind of damage he can do to this city." 

"Fine," Barry agrees reluctantly. At least his love of Central City is strong as ever. He moves over to examine Cisco's suit before taking the gas mask off of it and chucking it aside. 

" _Hey_ ," Cisco huffs. Barry changes in an instant only to immediately regret it. He shifts awkwardly in the suit, pulling at it to make it sit right. It is very skin tight. 

"I want you to know how weird this is," Barry says. "Next design, why don't we keep the fetish shit down to a minimum." Cisco turns bright red. 

"It's _aerodynamic_ ," he bites. 

"If you wanted to see my ass, you could have just asked," Barry assures, giving Cisco a wink that only manages to make him turn redder than the suit. Then Barry's gone, zipping out of the lab to go deal with the crisis. 

"It's aerodynamic," Cisco says again as he moves back behind the console. "He goes _fast_ , I made it aerodynamic." 

"He _does_ have a nice butt," Caitlin assures teasingly. 

"Thank you Dr. Snow," Barry replies in amusement over comms. "Afraid I like my women and coffee the same way, though." 

"Bitter?" Cisco says sarcastically. 

"I don't believe Mr. Allen drinks coffee," Eobard comments, giving Cisco a smile. Cisco flusters even more. 

X

Barry is pretty tempted to sit this aside and see how it goes for West and Thawne but he's here so he might as well do something before things get too out of hand. That tornado is getting pretty big and at this rate, it's going to take out a huge chunk of the city. A quick look around and he can pinpoint where West and Thawne have buckled down but he can't get eyes on Mardon yet. 

"You're sure just running around this thing is going to work?" Barry confirms.

"As long as you go fast enough, which you're more than capable of from our tests, yeah," Cisco promises. So he says. It's hard keeping his footing in the winds but once he starts running, it gets easier. He makes a wide circle around the bottom of the cyclone and tightens it up as he gains momentum. It's a lot easier to push himself to go faster while he's out here; the treadmill feels weird to run on. Or maybe it's just having everyone watch him. 

Slowly but surely, the tornado does begin to slow. It's supremely satisfying to feel it diminish as he circles it until it finally peters out. That was easier than he expected. With the tornado dealt with, he looks around for Mardon. West and Thawne are tentatively peering out of their hiding spots but with Cisco's suit, Barry isn't worried about being recognized. 

Mardon fires a shot, immediately giving away his location, and Barry bolts at him. 

"Yes! Nice! Good work, Barry!" Cisco compliments. The sheer fear in Mardon's eyes when Barry is suddenly in front of him is way more satisfying, though. "Told you it would work!" He tries to fire off another shot but Barry jams the trigger. Barry grabs his neck roughly in the other hand and Mardon struggles against him like a wild animal. 

"Now to deal with Mardon," Wells says. 

"I'm thinking- Weather Wizard," Cisco says gleefully. Barry can feel the pressure change around them as Mardon tries to summon more weather. So Barry breaks his neck with a loud, audible snap. An eerie silence falls over the other side of his comms and everything goes still suddenly as Mardon's powers are effectively negated. 

"Barry?" Cisco questions softly. 

"What should I do with Mardon?" Barry asks. Another moment of silence.

"You can bring him back here," Wells assures. "We'll find something to do with him for the time being."

"On my way back," Barry says. He walks out of the hanger, dragging Mardon's body with him, and both West and Thawne are back on their feet. They point their guns at him but they look a mess and needless to say, they're absolutely terrified of whatever's happened here today.

"Drop him!" West shouts. "Hands up!" Barry doesn't feel like dealing with them so he just leaves. He returns to Star Labs with Mardon. 

Well. Most of Mardon. 

Caitlin gasps in surprise and Cisco immediately looks like he's going to be ill. Barry looks down at Mardon curiously. As it turns out, dragging a dead body through the city probably wasn't the best idea. From the knees down, Mardon's been torn to shreds from being dragged across asphalt. There's a grotesque trail of blood behind him, too. Barry drops his body. 

"Whoops," he murmurs with a laugh. "I thought he'd gotten lighter." Caitlin swiftly leaves the room. 

"That-" Cisco says and he turns away, holding the back of his hand over his mouth to stop from being sick. "Did that kill him?" 

"You broke his neck," Wells says matter-of-factly. 

"Yeah, he was already dead, don't worry," Barry promises. "I'll be more careful next time, sorry." He quickly bolts off the clean up the blood smear he's left in his wake, collecting all the little bone shards in the process. He drops them on the console in a handful. "There. No evidence." 

"Oh my _god_ ," Cisco says, urgently walking out as well. 

"Mr. Allen," Wells says firmly. Barry looks at him curiously. "You weren't supposed to _kill_ Mardon." 

"No?" Barry replies. "I was supposed to let him wreak havoc with the powers _you_ gave him? He was a criminal. You think the police are equipped to deal with him?" 

"We can't study him if he's dead," Wells argues. 

"He's still fresh," Barry assures. "Now would be the time to run your tests if you're going to." Wells looks less than pleased. Barry changes back into his clothes. 

"Next time-" Wells begins. 

" _Next time_ ," Barry says. "I'll do what I need to do." He smiles. Wells doesn't say anything else. Barry picks up one of the bone shards and rubs it between his fingers. "I'm gonna go talk to Cisco. Make sure he's okay. You and Caitlin can manage the body, right?" 

The look Wells gives him as he leaves the room is intense but not necessarily _unhappy_. Wells is an odd man and Barry doesn't trust him. Until he knows what Wells is hiding, he's not going to, either. 

"Cisco?" Barry murmurs. Cisco jumps. He jerks away, refusing to look at Barry, and pretends to be working on something. "Cisco, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Cisco says, obviously strained. "I just- you know what, I just really wasn't expecting to see a dead body today, okay?" Barry comes to sit beside him. 

"Cisco, you know Mardon was going to hurt people, right?" he asks. "That's what he does. If I hadn't-" 

"No, I get it," Cisco assures. "With that kind of power, he could have killed a lot more people. I know. You- I'm not saying you were in the wrong, okay? I just don't like it." 

"I understand," Barry murmurs. "You don't have to like it, okay? But if I want to keep this city safe from people like that? Sometimes I have to do things people don't like." Cisco looks at him unsurely. 

" _You're_ going to keep the city safe?" he asks. 

"That's what I've been trying to do working with the police, yeah," Barry replies softly. "Putting the bad guys away and giving people justice. I don't see why I shouldn't keep doing that now. Now maybe I can actually make a difference." 

"By killing people?" Cisco asks, frowning at him. Barry laughs. He puts the piece of bone in Cisco's hand and Cisco flinches away from it. Barry holds his hand still in a firm grip though, pressing it into his palm. 

"Next time," he says. "I'll make sure you see how bad these people are, okay?" Cisco swallows. Barry closes Cisco's fingers around the shard before letting go of his hand. He looks at his fist quietly. 

"The suit's growing on me, by the way. I think I'll like it. Thank you," Barry says with a smile. Cisco looks back up at him, his expression rather forlorn, but he nods. 

"Yeah," he murmurs. "I'm glad." 


	2. Chapter 2

While Mick is pretty sure there's something skeevy going on, Len just can't help his own curiosity. He already wants to know what's inside Star Labs and Wells asking him to keep it 'off the books' only makes him that much more curious as to what they want. Ever since the particle accelerator went off, the place has been a ghost town. 

So Len shows up. 

Dr. Wells greets him in the upper part of the building where it looks like they used to card employees in and out. Nothing looks like it's functioning anymore likely on account of no one using it anymore. This place is a security nightmare. 

"Leonard Snart," Dr. Wells says, offering his hand. Len takes it politely. "Thank you for coming. I'm Harrison Wells. We spoke on the phone." 

"Nice to meet you, doctor," Len replies. 

"Likewise. Follow me," Wells instructions, already turning himself around to lead Len further into the building. "And thank you again for keeping this quiet. I wouldn't want to hurt your reputation by having you do some work for us." 

"Of course," Len agrees, looking around as he walks. He doubts they're going to be having him do any repairs uphere. In fact, he kind of doubts they're having him do 'repairs' at all. Wells hadn't actually said that, after all. He hadn't said much of anything. "I'm sure there's more than one reason you'd like me to keep this off the books." Wells smiles at him. 

"We are still a research facility," he assures. "We'd like to keep our secrets, _our_ secrets." 

"Right," Len murmurs. Just getting into the elevator with Wells makes him feel like he's already made a terrible mistake. Surely they're going to make him sign his life away to keep this whole thing hush before he leaves here. "Can I ask what it is you're actually looking to hire me for now?" 

"Certainly," Wells agrees. "We're looking to remodel our basement where the accelerator used to be. We'll be needing to build some single occupancy rooms with specific specifications from Ramon." Len arches a brow at him. 

"Single occupancy rooms," he repeats back. 

"That's correct. We're trying to study the effects the dark matter had on some people," Wells explains. "As you may have noticed, some of those people are very dangerous now. Others will need to be kept in isolation for their own good while we try to help them, anyways." 

"You're having me build a prison," Len says plainly. "In your basement." Needless to say, Len does _not_ like Wells' smile. 

"I don't look at it that way but I suppose for some, yes," he replies. "Would you rather them be running free?" That's not really fair to ask. So far he's only seen these 'metas' who are intent on doing bad. Surely not all of them are like that. Len forgoes answering. 

"It seems like a bit of a moot point with Flash running around," he says instead. "He seems to have a more absolute method of dealing with things." 

"Even the Flash can't be everywhere at once," Wells promises. "And like I said, some simply need isolation as to not hurt themselves or others- not necessarily because they're committing crimes." At the end of the day, as long as Star Labs actually does still have money to pay him with, Len isn't all that picky about the work. Ethical dilemmas were never really his forte. 

"Do you have the blueprints for your basement?" Len asks. "I'd like to know what I'm dealing with before anything else." 

"Of course," Wells agrees. "I'll go get them. Please, feel free to have a look around." Oh they're definitely making him sign a non-disclosure agreement before he leaves. Len looks around as Wells leaves him to his own devices. This part of the lab not only looks cleaner but obviously is still functioning. He didn't expect them to still have such new equipment or, for that matter, be in any functioning order. It's hard not to wonder where they're getting their money from when they've been effectively black listed for just about everything. 

"Cisco, what is this?" 

There's even people here. Len nosily moves closer to hear what's going on, sticking to the hall wall so he's not seen. 

"Where did you get that?" 'Cisco' asks with concern. "It's- it was just part of something I was working on. To- help, you know?" 

"Do you know what temperature this reaches?" the other asks. Len stands outside the door but doesn't yet dare to poke his head inside. "Cisco-" 

" _Theoretically_ ," Cisco says. "Absolute zero but, I mean, come on, I seriously doubt that's even true even if it would be cool." 

"Do you know how bad this would be in the wrong hands?" the other urges. Now Len is particularly curious as to what they've even talking about. 

"That's- that's why it _was_ in lock up," Cisco assures. "Where you found it, right? I mean, it's not like it's hurting anything as it is-" 

"Do you know how _especially_ bad this would be if you used it to make a _weapon_ capable of reducing things to _absolute_ zero?" they ask though their tone doesn't come off as strictly angry or upset. Cisco sounds like that doesn't matter, though; he's extremely panicked. 

"Barry, I wouldn't-" Cisco begins. Len hears a sudden, violent rattling. Unable to help himself, he finally peers into the doorway to see what's happening. 'Barry' has Cisco pinned against a shelf by his jaw. He holds something in his other hand but Len can't see it from this angle. Barry isn't particularly big, either, and he doesn't seem to be holding Cisco forcefully, but it's more than enough to make Cisco coware. 

"I know you wouldn't," Barry promises. "Just like you know I wouldn't hurt you, right?" Even from where Len's standing, that's clearly not the case. He's not really sure what he's going to do if this starts going bad- or rather, _worse_. 

"Right," Cisco says quietly. He grabs Barry's arm softly but his hand is trembling. "Like I said, Barry, I was just working on something to help. In case- just in case." 

"In case I hurt you, Cisco?" Barry asks. Cisco winces as he digs his fingers in harder. 

"No," Cisco murmurs. "No. You- wouldn't do that, Barry." Barry lets him go. He grins. 

"Of course not," he agrees. "I'm going to go put this away. No more experimenting with absolute cold, okay?" Cisco nods. He tries to catch his breath as Barry walks away. Len quickly realises he has nowhere to go and pushes himself off the wall to act natural- like he wasn't just eavesdropping natural. Barry blinks at him curiously. 

"Who are you?" he asks. Len offers his hand. 

"Leonard Snart," he introduces himself. "The architect Dr. Wells called?" 

"Oh. I remember something about that, yeah. For the basement prison," Barry says, shaking his hand politely. "Nice to meet you. I'm Barry Allen." 

"CSI for the CCPD?" Len asks in surprise. 

"That's me," Barry assures with a smile. "Hopefully I haven't put you in jail?" 

"No," Len says quickly. "No. Actually you helped keep my father in prison a few years ago. Which is good. He belongs there, don't worry." Barry just keeps smiling at him. "You're going along with Star Labs putting a jail in their basement?" 

"Oh no," he promises. "I don't see the point, really, but it's not my lab. If they're not technically doing anything illegal-" he shrugs. "Sorry. If you'll excuse me, I need to go deal with this. It's very cold." He shakes the thing he was holding, something Len can't say for sure even seeing it, then walks off. Len isn't really sure how to feel about what just happened. He looks into the room with Cisco again and knocks on the doorframe. 

"Cisco Ramon?" Len asks. Cisco rubs the top of his throat gently. 

"Yeah," he murmurs. "You're the architect, right? Snart?" 

"I am," Len confirms. "Are you alright? I- saw what happened." 

"I'm fine," Cisco assures. "Not to sound too pathetic but I definitely deserved that a little bit." Okay, Len definitely doesn't like that. 

"Dare I ask what you did to 'deserve' that so I won't do it?" he asks, doing his best to make it sound teasing. 

"Are you a meta?" Cisco asks. 

"I _hope_ not," Len scoffs. 

"Then don't worry about it," Cisco assures. "He's not usually like that, I promise." That definitely didn't seem like a 'not usually like that' interaction. Len would know. 

"Are you a meta?" he questions curiously. 

"I hope not," Cisco replies with some dry amusement. "Uh, here, I have some of the specifications here to go over with you. They shouldn't be too difficult." 

So Barry Allen is _completely_ unhinged. Good to know. 

X

Oh no. 

"Mick," Len calls only as loud as he needs to. Mick looks up briefly from over his glasses before huffing like a cranky old dog and getting up to come look out the window with him. 

"Shit," Mick says quietly. Their office actually has a good view of the Jitters building. Len likes it because it makes it easy to get coffee in the mornings. This he likes less. Even from the good distance they are, it's easy to make out the Flash on Jitters' roof and with him, a woman. This can only end badly. 

"Should we do something?" Len asks. 

"What can we?" Mick replies. At this point, nothing. Even the cops have stopped responding to calls about Flash ever since one of their detectives got the absolute shit beat out of him for trying to start up a Flash 'task force'. As far as Len knows, Flash really doesn't go out of his way to hurt civilians or even non metas but if they're in his way, they're in his way. "Think she's a meta?" 

"I can't tell," Len says. Chances are she's not, though, otherwise she probably wouldn't still be alive. It just looks like they're talking but about what, who knows. Len rustles around his desk for his binoculars. 

"Anything good?" Mick asks curiously. 

"I think that's Iris West," Len murmurs. "She's been writing articles about the Flash and other metas. Mostly Flash." 

"I take it he's not fond of fans," Mick says. Len presses his lips as he watches. Getting caught would be very, very bad but if they _can_ do something to help, he wants to be able to. 

"I wouldn't say what's she's doing has ever been a good idea, no," Len assures. "Especially considering the Flash almost killed her fiance." Hopefully she isn't trying to get payback. Len winces as he watches Flash bolt to her suddenly, standing nearly on her toes. She's stubborn, that's for sure, and as much as she flinches, she doesn't move. Flash puts his hand _in_ her skull. It's an aching few seconds while they wait to see if she's going to drop dead before Flash is suddenly gone and Iris, fortunately, still alive. 

"Lucky day," Mick murmurs. 

"I'm gonna go check on her," Len says, watching as she collapses and tries to catch her breath. "Be my look out?" 

"Always," Mick assures. Len heads down, making quick work of the landscape between here and there. The roof of Jitters doesn't actually have any easy access, and he's sure getting down is going to be a different ordeal, but he manages up with a few skilled jumps and one not so skilled slip. 

Then Iris almost pepper sprays him. 

"Please don't," Len says awkwardly. Iris exhales curtly but doesn't actually pepper spray him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," Iris says curtly despite the fact she's obviously been crying. "How did you know I was up here?" 

"My office is up there," Len says, gesturing to where he knows Mick is watching. "I saw Flash try to give you an impromptu lobotomy." Iris barks a laugh. 

"Would you believe that went as well as I expected?" she asks bitterly. Len crouches down beside her and she sits back a bit. There's not actually anything he can do if Flash comes back but he doubts he's coming back. 

"I'm Len, by the way," he introduces himself, offering his hand. Iris shakes it faintly. 

"Iris," she says.

"I've read your articles," he assures. "They're good." 

"Thank you," Iris murmurs. "Flash, apparently, also thinks so. I can't tell if he was serious or if I should have read that as a threat." 

"Why were you up here?" Len asks. 

"Bad ideas, mostly," Iris assures. "Anger." Len nods. "What would you do if you learned the Flash's identity right now?" 

" _Please_ don't tell me the Flash's identity," Len says firmly. "I don't need that kind of trouble in my life. And if _you_ know it, I'd strongly suggest keeping it to yourself and keeping your head very, very down." 

"I don't, unfortunately," Iris murmurs. "Eddie's right, though, if we can learn his identity, we could get an advantage on stopping him." 

"Is that really a good idea?" Len asks unsurely. "Knowing his identity is more likely to get you killed before anything else. And stopping him- I don't like it either, but without him there'd be a lot more dangerous metas on the loose." 

"And a lot more innocent ones still alive," she scoffs back. Len frowns. "Sorry. Not your problem. Thanks for coming to check on me." 

"Of course," Len says. "Can I help you down?" Iris nods. 

"Please," she agrees. They exchange business cards back on the ground floor. Len assures her again, he doesn't want any trouble with the Flash and won't be giving her any comments to write about, but he is usually nearby if she finds herself stuck on the roof again. 

X

"Open the cell." 

Cisco jumps, scattering their things everywhere, and Len goes stone still. 

"Open the cell!" Flash repeats, louder. Cisco urgently moves into action, opening the containment doors despite the fact they're in the process of working on it still. Flash throws the body he's holding inside and slams the button to close it again. Len is shocked to see how _young_ the man is inside. 

"Flash," Cisco says. "You're bleeding. What happened?" Len cautiously looks over his shoulder, too afraid to actually draw attention to himself by looking at him fully. Flash wipes some blood from under his nose. He looks disoriented to say the least. Why is the Flash _here_? Is he working with Star Labs? Len just assumed he slaughtered any metas he found. Did Wells actually manage to make an arrangement with him? 

"Get out," Flash says. Len doesn't need to be told twice to know that's directed at him. He grabs his bag hastily and quickly excuses himself back up to the cortex. Wells and Caitlin look at him questioning. 

"The Flash sent me on break," Len murmurs. 

"I see," Wells replies. "Perhaps you should come back tomorrow to resume working, then."

"As much confidence as I have in Cisco's abilities, this is a two man job," Len assures. "And with the new occupancy, I'd rather finish it today and _not_ piss the Flash off. Why's the Flash here by the way?" 

"I would refrain from asking too many questions, Mr. Snart," Wells warns. Len can take a warning. 

"He must have found Hartley," Caitlin murmurs. "And brought him back alive, after all." 

"For now," Wells says. "He may not stay that way if we don't do something. Might I at least suggest stepping out for lunch, Mr. Snart?"

"If you insist," Len agrees. Clearly they don't want him to be here for this. Whatever _this_ is. Admittedly, Len doesn't think he wants to be here either and at least keep his deniability about not witnessing the Flash murder. He's not sure how he feels about Flash knowing he's working for Star Labs now. That _wasn't_ in his contract. Len takes his bag and his blueprints and escorts himself out of the building. 

Perhaps building Star Labs a prison isn't the worst thing in the world if it means Flash isn't going to just kill every meta he comes across. Len decides it's best not to think about it too much. 

Which is good because he's quickly given something else to think about. 

The stupid part of Len's brain makes him just stand there for a few seconds and stare at the portal that appears beside him despite _knowing_ it's meta activity. He backs away slowly, not sure what's going to happen next, when he sees several more open. Now it's time to run. Len bolts for the nearest safety he can find which, as it turns out, isn't all that safe. He more or less _trips_ into one of the portals while trying to escape the scenario at hand and it immediately spits him out in a heap on the ground. 

Len stares up at the portal as it vanishes, having done nothing except rattle him a bit. The rest seem to be gone as well upon a look around. That was bizarre but, he suppose, fairly typical for this city. He hastily gathers up his things again. Harm or no, meta activity means the Flash is going to be back out again and he doesn't want to be out on the street when that happens. It seems to have only dropped him off a few feet from where he had been to make matters stranger. Perhaps this is the work of a meta just learning to function? Poor thing. 

If Flash is going to be out, Len decides to just return to Star Labs. 

Flash catches him first. 

"Len?" he asks, coming to a stop. Len's heart races. He has to resist the urge to just flee for it. "What are you doing?" 

"I didn't do this," Len assures him swiftly. "I'm not a meta. Ask your friends at Star Labs. They _know_ I'm not a meta." 

"I know you're not a meta," Flash murmurs in confusion. "What didn't you do exactly?" Is that a trick fucking question? 

"The portals? Or whatever they were," Len says. 

"That was- yeah, no, that wasn't you," Flash agrees. Len can at least breathe a breath of relief for that. "Hey guys, Snart's here. Okay, _a_ Snart is here. I think he came out of one of the breaches you sneezed open." This, however, is just confusing. More confusing, however, is the fact that he's vibrating neither his face or his voice like Flash normally does. 

That's Barry Allen. Sure, Len has had his suspicions but he's not stupid enough to ever actually try to find out if he's right. This makes it painfully obvious. 

"Well you sneezed and breaches opened so-?" Flash says in amusement. "Check to see if anyone else came through. They were only open a second." 

"Came through where?" Len asks.

"I'm going to guess you don't know about the multiverse yet," Flash says. 

"The multiverse theory?" Len replies. 

"Not a theory," Flash assures him. Len's thoughts are too jumbled for him to actually have a reaction to this. "Welcome to Earth, uh, one, I guess? Listen, we're working on the naming convention thing." 

Len just stares at him. 

"Are you going to pass out?" Flash asks. 

"No," Len scoffs. "Snarts don't _faint_. Sitting down, however, wouldn't be a terrible idea." Flash laughs. 

"Yeah, that's fair," he agrees. "Would you mind coming back to Star Labs with me? We'll see if we can figure out what Earth you're from and get you home." 

"Okay," Len says vacantly. He doesn't actually want to go anywhere with Flash but not only is he sure he doesn't have a choice, he's sure refusing would be a bad idea. Hopefully Flash really _doesn't_ think he's a meta. Instead of just hailing him off, Flash offers a hand. Len looks at it, perplexed, then at him. 

"Uh, or we could walk," Flash says. "It's not far, I guess. Are you okay?" Len's not really sure what's happening so no. He nods. 

"I'm fine," he assures, taking Flash's hand. "Let's just go." Flash nods and whisks him back to Star Labs- completely indistinguishable from before. Is he really in another universe? What did that portal do to him? Or maybe he just hit his head a little too hard on the landing. Flash offers him a chair and he gladly takes it, rubbing his forehead in his hand. 

"So," Flash says. "Can you put him back, sneezy?" Len glances around curiously. Cisco seems the same as ever, maybe a little less anxious, and Snow seems fine. He can't help but stare at Wells, though, who apparently isn't paralyzed anymore. Or, rather, this version of him isn't paralyzed? Oh, Len has a headache. 

"Why's he looking at me like that?" Wells murmurs to Cisco quietly. 

"Let's remember, not all of your alternate selves are, like, the most chill, okay?" Cisco replies in a hushed grumble. Wells 'hm's unhappily. "Anyways! Definitely didn't sneeze those breaches open so definitely don't know where he came from." 

"It is pretty convenient the breaches happened to open after you had a sneezing fit," Caitlin insists teasingly. 

"Pretty sure you sneezed the breaches open," Wells agrees. 

"Can we focus?" Cisco urges irritably. "And you don't know what Earth you're from, right?" Len stares at him for a moment until Cisco gives him a questioning look. 

"I don't know what that means," he replies. 

" _Okay_ ," Cisco says slowly. "So, yeah, no, no idea where he goes. His Earth must be pretty new- or he's been living under a rock. Dunno." 

"Well, can we figure it out?" Flash asks. He moves to take his cowl off and Cisco urgently makes a gesture to stop him. 

"Whoa! Hey! We don't know if this Snart knows _his_ Flash's identity!" he says. "Cool it, Mr. I'm The Flash." 

"You're Barry Allen," Len says. "The- CSI?" They all look at him a moment before Flash makes a pointed gesture at him and takes his cowl off anyways. He is Barry. That's- Len isn't actually sure if his Flash is Barry now. Sure, Barry's kind of weird and almost certainly has Cisco in some sort of unhealthy, if not plain abusive, relationship, but is he really Flash levels of unhinged? 

"We'll have to do a little legwork but we should be able to figure it out, yeah," Cisco assures. "If Len-? Do you go by Len?" 

"Len's fine," Len assures. 

"Is willing to cooperate?" Cisco says. Len looks around again. This is so strange and bizarre, he still has no idea where to start dissecting it. He's on another 'Earth' where everyone's the same but also obviously _not_. They're _strongly_ suggesting Cisco is a meta and for some reason the Flash not only hasn't killed or locked him up but is working with him? Wells can walk? The Flash is- is he nice? He's really not that different from the Flash Len knows but there's something about him that's just less- aggressive? Mean? He's not sure yet. 

"Len?" Barry asks softly. "If you need some rest, you can go lay down. Maybe have Caitlin take a look at you?" 

"No," Len assures slowly. "No, I'll cooperate. What do you need?" This seems like the best way to figure out what the hell is happening. 

"What we need is a board," Cisco announces. Len watches as he pulls a dry erase board into the middle of the room and proceeds to erase away the equations on it. Wearily, Len watches Barry to make sure he isn't upset by this but Barry doesn't seem bothered and looks back at Len curiously before giving him a friendly smile. Wells, on the other hand, makes an indignant gesture like he was working on that but just throws his hands up without saying anything.

This Wells is weird, too. 

"Leonard Snart," Cisco says as he writes it on the top of the board. "Right off the bat, definitely _not_ from Harry's Earth." In the upper corner, he writes 'No' and beneath it a two.

"Not my Len, no," Wells confirms. Len is suddenly hit with the realisation that there's another him on this Earth and that puts the worst sort of unease in his belly a person can feel. 

"Alright, mystery Len," Cisco says. "Are you- a criminal?" Len can't help but bark a laugh. 

"No," he says. "I'm an architect?" He lifts one of the cases containing his blueprints and the bag containing his drawing tools. Everyone looks vaguely impressed. 

"Architect," Cisco writes under his name. "Cool. Always figured Snart for more of, like, a science engineer or, I don't know, a weird time keeper police or something." 

"What?" Wells says. " _Why_?" 

"Okay! So, let's see. We need to make a list of distinguishable differences," Cisco says. 

"Do you have a sister?" Caitlin asks curiously. Len hesitates. If Flash doesn't know he has a sister, he doesn't really want to offer up that information freely. That being said, if Flash is really Barry Allen, he knows a lot of things already Len doesn't want him to know. 

"Yes," Len answers slowly. "She's a figure skater." Cisco writes down 'Golden Glider = figure skater' which, yeah, really weird he already knows his sister's stage name. Super weird. 

"Oh, what about Mick Rory?" Barry asks. "Do you know him?" 

"Mick's my business partner," Len agrees. "He does all the electrical engineering for my buildings. We've known each other for years." 

"And he's not a pyromaniac?" Cisco asks. 

"Well, he's been going to therapy for it ever since his dad tried to burn him alive so," Len replies. "I'd rather you not call him that." 

"Right," Cisco murmurs apologetically and swiftly writes down 'Heatwave = electrical engineer'. Above it, he adds in 'relationships'. 

"Sorry, our Mick Rory is an arsonist," Barry explains. "Just covering our bases on what we already know." 

"Mick- has some anger issues but he wouldn't hurt anyone who didn't seriously deserve it," Len assures. "And definitely he'd never do _arson_." Cisco adds 'never arson' next to Mick's name. 

"And your Flash is also Barry Allen, correct?" Wells asks. 

"I-" Len hesitates, looking at Barry looking back at him. "Maybe?" 

"But you know Barry enough to pick him out as the Flash?" Caitlin asks. 

"I've had my suspicions," Len assures. "Flash- my? Flash? Is a little more protective of his identity. I do know Barry, though. He's usually at Star Labs with, uh, my Cisco and Caitlin and Wells." It's really weird referring to any of them as 'my' but Len isn't entirely sure how else to distinguish them from the apparent countless other versions of them. 

"So probably Barry," Wells assures. 

"Do you work at Star Labs?" Caitlin questions. 

"Not exactly. Dr. Wells hired me on to, uh, help remodel the remains of their particle accelerator," Len explains. 

"Your Wells is _rebuilding_ the particle accelerator?" Barry asks. 

"No," Len replies. "He's- he's having me build a prison there." 

"The Pipeline," Cisco murmurs. He and Barry exchange weary glances. "Is your Wells 'paralyzed'?" 

"Yeah- how did you know that?" Len asks curiously. This Wells doesn't sound like he's even from this Earth which only adds to everything else that doesn't make a ton of sense. Cisco writes 'Harrison Wells = RF ?' on the board. 

"That's why he was looking at you like that," Cisco murmurs to Wells. "Why don't we come back to that one." 

"You were adamant on telling me you weren't a meta," Barry points out. " _Are_ you a meta?" 

" _No_ ," Len says again forcibly. " I haven't done anything wrong." 

"Whoa, no one's saying you did," Barry promises swiftly. "Why are you so scared of being mistaken for a meta? What happened to them on your Earth?" Len looks around at them, all looking at him curiously. They really don't know. This Flash- what's so different about this Flash? 

"Flash _kills_ metas," Len says. Everyone immediately looks alarmed. 

"He _what_?" Barry asks. "You- are you sure?" 

"I'm sure," Len says sharply. "He doesn't tolerate any other metas in his city. He thinks they're too dangerous and- and he might be right but hunting them down and killing them in cold blood like that? It's not right. They say he only kills metas causing problems but even _if_ that's true, he's- he's completely _mad_. He almost killed Detective Thawne just for _mentioning_ a task force against him. The whole city lives in fear of what's going to set him off on something other than metas." 

Barry's so pale in the face, Len would think he's seen a ghost. He looks at Cisco and Caitlin in a panic and as much as he tries to compose himself, he seems to be having trouble. 

"That's messed up," Cisco murmurs. "Our Barry doesn't do that, alright? This Barry's a good guy, not- not a _murderer_." 

"If his Flash _is_ Barry," Wells says with interest. "What changed to make him- that?" 

"If Thawne-" Barry begins. He clenches his teeth. "I- Do you _want_ to go back, Len?" As much as the opportunity to stay here with the nice Flash is tempting at the moment, his sister and Mick are still back home and, well, he's grown quite fond of Cisco and Iris, as well. Leaving them to the Flash seems wrong- especially if his Cisco turns out to be meta, too. 

"Regrettably, yeah," Len replies. "The offer is appreciated but I'm not running away." 

"I wouldn't suggest running," Wells comments halfly. Len gives him an unamused look. 

"Well, maybe we can- maybe we can help you be better prepared when we send you back," Barry offers. 

"Barry," Cisco says quietly, giving a small shake of the head. They exchange a look that's pretty obviously a 'we'll discuss this later'. "It does sound like your Earth is pretty new. Chances are, we _haven't_ had contact with them yet. It might be pretty difficult to pin down." 

"We'll find a place for you to stay for now," Barry assures. "If you're comfortable with that, I mean. I'd understand if you weren't." Len is finding it harder and harder to believe this Barry and his Barry are the same man. 

"I'll live," Len agrees. "You're- nothing like my Barry. You've made that pretty obvious." Barry smiles at him. 

"If we need more information to pin down your Earth, would you mind?" Cisco ask.

"Whatever you need," Len assures. "I'll do what I can to help." 

"In the meantime, I would like to have a look at you," Cailtin says softly. "That bump on your head looks like it's swelling." 

"We know people from my Earth vibrate at a different frequency," Wells says. "Perhaps Len's Earth has some unique physical characteristics as well. If you wouldn't mind us doing a few tests." 

"I guess, sure," Len agrees vaguely. 

"Try not to overwhelm him," Barry insists. " _Please_. Let him get some rest and process what's going on first. You're not exactly in a rush, right?" Len offers a solemn smile. 

"I can't say I am, no," he replies quietly. "Thank you." Barry smiles back at him sadly. 

Len mostly just wants a moment of privacy to write some notes. If this Earth is so similar to his own, perhaps what they know could prove useful back home. Maybe there really is a way to stop the Flash. 


	3. Chapter 3

Barry looks around for Cisco. After releasing Hartley into Wells' 'care', he feels he owes a bit of an explanation as to what that was about. Hartley is dangerous but not because he's a meta; so Barry deafened him and agreed to let Wells deal with him from there. For having not liked Hartley from the beginning, however, Barry doesn't understand why Cisco was so fussy about this whole situation. 

After not finding him in his lab or the cortex, he finds Cisco with Caitlin in the medbay.

"It's really good to have Ronnie back," Caitlin murmurs sadly, holding a tissue in her hand. "I- I just don't know what I'm going to do. I just got him back. I don't want to lose him again." 

"I know," Cisco says, gently rubbing her knee. "Ronnie's a good guy, Caitlin, there's still hope we can work something out. He's somewhere safe right now, okay?" 

"For how long?" Caitlin replies. "Once Barry finds him- I just don't know, Cisco." 

"You can talk to him," Cisco encourages. "Barry isn't completely unreasonable, you know. Look at Hartley." 

"Hartley didn't almost blow up the city," Caitlin says sharply. "He's also _deaf_ now. What do you think that's going to mean for Ronnie? We can't just- we can't just turn him _off_. I don't think Barry's exactly going to be so open to negotiations." 

"Have you tried?" Cisco encourages weakly. "I know Barry didn't know Ronnie but he knows you, Caitlin. You're his friend, just talk to him." 

"Barry doesn't talk, Cisco," Caitlin snaps back. "Mardon, Black, Nimbus-" 

"All _dangerous_ bad guys!" Cisco insists. "If Barry hadn't-" 

"Souci?" Caitlin says. Cisco is quiet. "Tell me Barry had a good reason to kill her, Cisco." 

"It's not that simple, Caitlin, you know that," Cisco urges. "If you give him a chance-" 

"Caitlin," Barry says. He's heard enough here. They both jump, jerking around to look at him. "Cisco, could we have a moment?" Cisco hesitates, looking at Caitlin before nodding. 

"Yeah, of course," he murmurs. He gives Caitlin a comforting pat on the shoulder before quietly leaving. Barry comes to sit beside Caitlin who swiftly makes an effort to wipe some of the wetness away from her eyes. She clears her throat but won't look him in the face, drawing in on herself to be smaller. 

"How much of that did you hear?" she asks. 

"Enough," Barry assures. Enough to make it clear she's hiding Ronnie and knows where he is.

"Please," Caitlin begs. "Please don't hurt Ronnie. He didn't know what he was doing. We can get him under control." That's the problem. Ronnie is dangerous no matter what; he's a ticking time bomb. Getting him 'under control' just means there's potential for him to lose control later. He could take out the entire city in one bad day. 

"I don't want to hurt Ronnie," Barry says. Caitlin frowns at him sadly as she finally lifts her head to look at him. "You've been a good friend, Caitlin. I wish you'd understand how much of a danger Ronnie is to this city." 

"We can help him," she insists. "Stein already has theories on how to-" 

"No," Barry cuts her off, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Caitlin, but I think it's time for you and Ronnie to start over elsewhere." 

"You-" she hesitates. "Wait, you're not going to kill him? We can just leave?" 

"Ronnie and Stein have eight hours to get out of Missouri," Barry says. "If either of them ever step foot over the state line, I will kill them and if you try to stop me, I'll kill you, too." Caitlin swallows but she nods.

"I- I understand," she murmurs. "Thank you, Barry. I really- I really do appreciate this." Barry smiles at her.

"And for the record," he says. "I really do like you, Caitlin. I'm sorry things had to come to this. _You're_ always welcome back here." Caitlin only frowns at him further. She doesn't say anything but she gets up and quickly leaves, likely to go talk to Ronnie and Stein. Barry doesn't exactly expect her to be visiting. A few moments later, Cisco comes back in. 

"I saw Caitlin leave," he murmurs. "Everything okay?" 

"Everything's fine," Barry promises with a smile. "Thank you, Cisco." 

"Me? For what?" Cisco asks as he comes to plop down with Barry now. Barry shrugs some. 

"I don't have a lot of friends," he admits. "You're a good friend. I appreciate you supporting me, is all." Cisco reaches over to pat him on the back fondly and gives him a mute smile.

"Course, buddy," he murmurs. "I wish we could do something for Ronnie but he- he did almost level an entire city. That's a lot of risk. It's not really fair of Caitlin to ask us to shoulder that."

"Or an entire city to unknowingly shoulder that," he agrees. Cisco nods. Barry leans into him, resting his head on Cisco's shoulder. 

"Should I assume Caitlin isn't coming back?" Cisco asks. He shakes her head. "And Ronnie is-?" 

"Not allowed to return," Barry says. He feels Cisco let out a breath of relief. "Just you, me, and Wells now." 

"Yeah," Cisco murmurs. "Barry?" Barry hums back in response. "Have you seen the architect?" 

"Snart?" he replies. "No? Maybe he quit? Things got pretty hectic with Hartley there. We might have spooked him." 

"He- didn't say anything. That's weird," Cisco says curiously. "I'm gonna go check his office. Make sure he's okay. Plus, I'm pretty sure Wells already paid him." 

"Want me to come?" Barry offers. Cisco winces. 

"No, I can handle this," he assures. "You and Wells are still dealing with Hartley, right? But- we should grab some food. When you're done, I mean. We can hang out?" 

"Yeah," Barry agrees with a grin. "Sounds good." Cisco smiles back at him. 

X

Len looks up as Barry knocks on the wall of the open door. He offers a small smile and Len returns it cautiously.

"Hey, Len," Barry murmurs. "Do you mind? I can go if you'd like." 

"It's alright," Len assures. Being dressed in his civilian clothes definitely seems to help, at least. That's not particularly surprising. Barry comes to sit on a different stretch of the couch and Len swiftly reaches to close the journal he was working on. What would normally be suspicious, Barry just takes with a grain of salt. 

Len really thinks Barry might hurt him. 

"Sorry we don't have anything better," Barry offers. They've dressed up the couch in the longue fairly well for him to sleep on but considering it's Len, he feels bad they couldn't put him up somewhere nicer. 

"It's fine, really," Len promises. "I've slept on couches before."

"With as many visitors as we get, we should really think about getting some guest rooms here," Barry says, laughing a bit. 

"I could design something for you," Len offers, gesturing to his tools. "Hang some curtains in the cortex and you have a perfect little nook for never leaving." Barry laughs some more and Len grins back at him. 

"I _think_ we have the extra space for some _actual_ bedrooms," he assures in amusement. "Thanks for the offer though." Len smiles and he sighs deeply as he looks around the room. 

"The architecture of this place is the same on my Earth, you know," he says. "It's an absolute marvel. Beautiful building, impressive structure. The fact that it withstood the particle accelerator exploding isn't a coincidence; it's designed and executed extremely well." 

"Yeah, well, the guy that built it knew what he was doing," Barry replies, unable to help the sourness in his voice. Len looks back at him curiously. 

"Was it not Wells?" he asks. 

"Not- Harry, no," Barry says. 

"Right. That's- I'm still getting used to that, sorry," Len murmurs. " _Harry_ isn't your original Wells, is he? What happened to Dr. Wells, if you don't mind me asking?" 

"That's a lot more complicated than you think," Barry murmurs. Len gestures vaguely around the room. 

"I have time," he promises. Barry smiles weakly. He knows Len is taking notes for going back home. They're not yet sure what the repercussions of affecting Len's Earth would be. His Earth is so new, giving him information that could even _potentially_ alter his timeline could be incredibly bad. 

They're also not sure if it even matters. 

Ultimately, Barry can't say for sure they came to a solid answer. They altered Harry's Earth but Harry's Earth was wildly different than their own. If Len is correct and his Earth's Flash is the worst version of Barry? Barry can't say for sure he minds helping Len figure something out. Len is so _scared_ of his Flash and all Barry can think about is Savitar. He wishes it were something Thawne had done but he knows now he's capable of something like that without him. 

"We never met our original Harrison Wells," Barry explains. "He was killed when I was only about eight or ten and replaced by a man named Eobard Thawne." 

"Replaced?" Len echoes back, somewhere between confused and absolutely horrified. Barry nods. 

"Yeah. Thawne assumed his entire identity, up to and including building this place," he says. "So. That's technically our 'original' Wells." 

"Do you not have an Eddie Thawne, then?" Len asks. "He's, uh, he's a detective for the CCPD on my Earth." 

"Not anymore," Barry murmurs. "We did. Eobard Thawne was Eddie Thawne's descendent from the future." Len's face goes from curious and vaguely scared to completely blank. Barry laughs. "Like I said, it's more complicated than you think." 

"I understand that now, yeah," he replies mildly. "I'm presuming this 'Eobard' didn't come back for good reasons?" 

"No," Barry assures. "He came back to kill me as a child and when he couldn't, he killed my mother." 

"I- I'm sorry, Barry," Len says. Barry shrugs faintly. 

"Not every Earth has an Eobard like this one does- a Reverse Flash," he assures. "But, as far as we have found? Any Earth that has a Barry Allen Flash- has an Eobard Thawne Reverse Flash. We're- we're sort of a pair." 

"My Wells may not be Wells," Len concludes with a soft sigh. Barry nods. 

"Eobard pretended to be paralyzed after the particle accelerator failed," he says. "Both to reinforce the idea that he was harmless and, as it turned out, he was trying to recharge his energy quite literally with a power source in his chair." 

"So if my Wells has this 'power source', it's likely _my_ Eobard Thawne," Len murmurs and, sure enough, he opens his journal back up to write. Barry reaches over to touch his arm, slow enough that Len doesn't retch away from him but he can still feel Len's heart beat accelerate immensely.

"Len," Barry murmurs. "I know you're afraid of your Flash, but I'm going to tell you right now, Eobard Thawne is not the answer to your problems. Your Flash kills metas; Eobard Thawne doesn't have an internal rule like that." Len looks at the hand on his arm then up at Barry, frowning deeply. 

"I know we don't know a lot about your Earth right now and, _maybe_ , Eobard is a good guy somehow who's just trying to stop Flash," Barry admits. "But from what you've told us so far? It sounds more likely that Eobard is the _reason_ your Flash is- the way he is. As much as he thinks he knows what he's doing, Eobard makes mistakes, too. And if your Flash really is as mean as we think he is, Eobard will go to extreme measures to preserve his secret. If he thinks you could out him, he'll kill you without hesitation." Len swallows quietly and puts his pen down. 

"That's not a comforting thought," he admits quietly. 

"I just don't want you to do anything that's going to get you hurt," Barry assures. 

"I appreciate that," Len murmurs. "My Flash isn't- he's not a bad guy, I didn't mean to give you that impression. He wants to protect his city, that's all, and the way he goes about that is just- brutal, sometimes."

"You can protect a city without killing anyone," Barry assures. Len closes his journal again and rubs his eyes with both hands. He breathes deeply. 

"It's hard to believe my Flash is- you," he admits.

"Yeah," Barry agrees softly. "Do you know what happened? To make him like this?" Len shakes his head. 

"I don't know Flash very well," he says. "Or Allen for that matter. A few years ago my father was up for parole. My sister and I _very_ much didn't want that but there wasn't a lot we could do. Allen found more evidence to keep him in jail. He was- he was really nice, actually. He was like you. I don't even think Allen remembers that." 

"Was there an officer with him?" Barry asks. 

"It was a closed case so not that I saw, no," Len replies. "Captain Singh was the one that said he could help us and I'm assuming put Allen on re-examining the case. Said Allen was the best CSI in the city. I don't think he was even the Flash then." Barry muses quietly for a moment. He doesn't remember that here but their Len wasn't exactly the kind to interact with the police. Perhaps it would have saved them some trouble in the long run. 

"But you do know Detective Thawne?" he asks. Len nods. 

"Not personally but yeah," he assures. "He's partners with Detective West. They're good men." 

"What about West's daughter?" Barry asks. 

"Iris West? She's a reporter," Len explains. "We've had coffee a few times. She used to write some of the nicer articles about the Flash. 'He's doing bad things for good reasons' kind of things." 

"Used to?" Barry repeats worriedly. Len adjusts uncomfortably. 

"Her fiance, Thawne- _Eddie_ , was talking about starting a task force to combat the Flash," he says. "Flash found out- which, if he's really Allen, Thawne likely told him to his face. Well, Flash didn't like that. Flash dragged him out of the CCPD and beat him within an inch of his life. He was in the hospital for two months." Barry covers his mouth with his hand, unsure of what to say let alone how to react to this. 

"I only saw Iris' article briefly before it got taken down," he goes on. "Apparently, Flash told him to make his task force and that he wouldn't kill them but he'd break every single one of their backs starting with Detective West and ending with Captain Singh." 

" _Jesus_ ," Barry murmurs. 

"When Thawne recovered, Flash gave Iris a comment for the CCPD," Len says. "I believe it was congratulating Thawne on a quick recovery and warning the CCPD that if they stood between him and any metas, then whatever happens to them is their own fault. He specifically mentioned Singh and how he 'knew Singh would make the best choice for the city'. If he's Allen- no, _knowing_ he's Allen, makes that a lot more chilling, I think." 

"Yeah," Barry agrees. "It does." 

It sounds like, for some reason, Len's Barry was never taken in by Joe and, ergo, never had Joe and Iris to help him through his mother's death and his father's incarceration. Would that really be enough to make him a killer, though? 

"Do you know about Henry Allen?" Barry asks. 

"Your- father, right?" Len murmurs. "On my Earth, he was arrested and found guilty for, uh, killing Nora Allen. I believe he died in jail shortly after." Barry wants to believe that wouldn't be enough but he also wants to believe that nothing would be enough to turn him into the monster Len is so afraid of. 

He's not sure anymore. 

"You're sure you want to go back?" Barry asks. Len nods. 

"I can't just leave my sister and Mick there," he assures. "And if my Cisco is- I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but knowing what I know about this Earth, I can't just abandon my own people. But thank you." 

"Just be careful, okay?" Barry murmurs, reaching over to give Len a soft rub on the shoulder. "Speedsters are dangerous and if your Flash truly has no limitations, the things he's capable of go far beyond just killing." Len swallows but he nods. 

"I'll keep that in mind." 

X

Barry grabs West as he comes around the corner, getting a hold of his collar and slamming him into the wall full force. West, obviously startled, reels. 

"What are you doing?" Barry demands. 

"What- Barry, what are you talking about?" West replies, more caught off guard than truly confused. He makes a motion to push Barry's hands off but that just makes Barry pull his collar harder. 

"Singh said you took my mother's case file," he says shortly. " _Why_." West clears his throat. 

"Barry, I need you to calm down," he murmurs. 

"I'll decide how calm I want to be after you tell me why you have _my mother's case files_ ," Barry replies with increasing anger. 

"I was looking into it again," West assures. "With the Flash running around now-" 

"Now you think I might have been telling the truth about a man in yellow with red lightning murdering my mother in front of me?" Barry finishes sourly. 

"Barry-" West says sadly. Barry slams him against the wall roughly. He flinches but remains calm. "If you don't want me looking into it again, I won't, but your father was my friend, too. I want his name cleared and your mother to have her justice served as much as you do." 

" _No_ ," Barry snarls back. " _You don't_." 

"Barry-" he says again. 

" _CSI Allen_ , detective West," Barry reminds him sharply. "If you _did_ , you wouldn't have arrested my father in the first place, now would you?" 

"The evidence at the time-" West begins. 

" _Didn't make sense_ ," Barry snaps back. "I _know_. I made it my _life's work_ to _know_. That evidence didn't make sense and arresting him for it was just the CCPD trying to cover their ass _because_ it didn't make sense. You fucked up and no matter what you do, you're going to have to live with that for the rest of your life, detective West." West looks down at him sadly, putting a hand over the top of the ones gripping his collar so tight, Barry's knuckles are white. 

"Does the Flash wear yellow?" Barry asks. 

"I- no," West says. "But-" 

"Does the Flash have red lightning?" Barry asks. West hesitates and Barry shakes him impatiently. 

"No," he says.

"Look into my mother's case again, detective, I don't _care_ ," Barry assures. "But if you ask me, my mother would still be alive if the Flash were around at her death. Unlike you and the rest of the CCPD, he actually does something useful for this city." He lets West's collar go, nearly throwing him back in the process. West catches himself on the wall and it's clear his breathing is a little alarmed like he actually expected Barry to do something. 

"Unless you have official business, stay out of my lab, detective," Barry warns as he walks off. He doesn't care to hear what West has to say anymore. Likewise, he doesn't really care what Thawne has to say almost ever. 

"Hey Barr, I've been looking for you," Thawne says as Barry walks in his general direction. Barry makes zero effort to acknowledge him and almost gets away with it. "Wait, I did some looking into Snart like you asked." 

Barry stops. He briefly weighs how badly he wants to know against how much he doesn't want to talk to Thawne and especially doesn't want to associate with Iris loitering in the precinct with him. Regrettably, he turns back with a smile to approach Thawne. 

"Good morning, detective Thawne," he greets. "Hello Iris." 

"Morning," Thawne replies with a smile of his own. Iris doesn't even put in the effort to force a smile at him. 

"Barry," she replies dryly. 

"I read your latest article, it was very- homey," he offers. 

"Homey?" she repeats. "Not mediocre this time?" 

"That's the word I was looking for; mediocre," Barry agrees. 

"Here," Thawne says urgently, handing Barry a file folder. Barry flips through it. "Snart's sister, Lisa Snart, and his business partner, Mick Rory, came in to file a missing person's report yesterday, actually. The last place they knew he was just happens to be Star Labs. He was apparently working on a 'secret' project for them there. Joe and I are going to head down this afternoon to ask some questions and if things don't line up, Singh is already ready to sign a search warrant." 

"A warrant isn't going to go far," Barry replies distantly.

"Yeah, well, get this; he disappeared about the same time those portal things appeared. They were only there for a few seconds but we have a couple theories," Thawne explains. Barry looks up at him mildly. 

"Do you, now?" he murmurs. 

"He could have fallen into one," Thawne says. "We still have no idea what they even were and he's not the only person who went missing about the same time. Or- he could have _made_ the portals and, you know, the Flash caught him." 

"And you're assuming killed him," Barry says. "Let's put a hold on that one until we see a body." 

"Likewise, if he _was_ a meta and realised Flash was onto him, he might have gone into hiding," Thawne offers. None of these theories are particularly sound but, at the very least, Barry has some more information to go off of. 

"Didn't Star Labs care for you during your coma?" Iris asks with a bitter taste of curiosity. "You know, the one you should have stayed in?" 

"Iris," Thawne says softly. "Could we not? Right now?" 

"I'm just saying, Barry waking up from his coma and the Flash appearing for the first time was awfully close together," Iris goes on anyways. In a shocking turn of events, it seems Thawne is the one between them with a lick of common sense. 

"There's a reason you aren't an investigative _officer_ , isn't there, Iris?" Barry comments. He closes the file folder and hands it back to Thawne. "Thank you, detective, almost none of this was even remotely helpful. Let me know if you find anything actually worth following up." 

X

"I'm telling you, that's not how that works," Cisco insists. 

"I know how it works," Harry snaps back in a hushed tone. "I taught _you_ how it works and now I'm telling you I know how it works and that's how it works." 

"That's _not_ how that works," Cisco repeats more stubbornly. Len watches them go back and forth for a few minutes though he's not fully sure what they're actually arguing about. All this science-y alternate Earth stuff has been kind of going over his head mainly because thinking about it too much makes him dizzy. Harry glances back suddenly, spotting Len loitering near the door, and does a double take that gets Cisco's attention. 

"Hey Len," Cisco greets. "Sorry, we were just working on something here. Ignore him." 

"Ignore _him_ ," Harry retorts with a scoff. 

"Caitlin said if I was feeling better, I should come see if you needed anything else," Len says. 

"Did she take your blood?" Harry asks. 

"She took a lot of things," Len replies mildly. She was nice about it but he still feels violated. Harry immediately begins out of the lab without warning. 

"I need that blood," he says. Len isn't sure how to feel about a walking Wells speed walking away to get his blood. He decides not to think about it. Instead, he turns back to Cisco. 

"He grows on you," Cisco assures. "I don't need anything else right now. You gave us a good amount of information already, now it's just a matter of using that to extrapolate your universe from- an infinite amount of other universes." He gestures to whatever it is he and Harry have written on their board and Len just kind of stares at it blankly. 

"Barry says you can breach to other Earths without an issue; why is this so difficult?" Len asks, not upset but rather actually curious. 

"Because you didn't come through one of my breaches," Cisco explains.

"So you really didn't sneeze me here?" Len asks. Cisco makes a vaguely mumbling noise that Len can't make into words. 

"Pretty sure, anyways," he concludes rather stubbornly. "See, there's infinite universe, earths, timelines, whatever, right? But they exist in these 'bubbles' basically. It's effortless for me to breach between Earth one and Earth two because, relatively, we're right next to each other. So close, in fact, some breaches occur naturally." 

"More like sharing a fence line with a neighbor," Len comments. 

"Yeah, exactly!" Cisco agrees eagerly. "I can still walk to other houses in the neighborhood and it doesn't take very much effort but we're not sharing a lemon tree in the backyard, you know?" 

"So my house is in a different neighborhood?" Len asks. 

"Dude, in this metaphor, your house is in a different _country_ ," Cisco says. "So, in our research we've found that two of the 'same' earths can't be touching like, uh-" he snaps a few times. "Trying to think of an architect metaphor here and I know nothing about architecture it turns out. Two Victorian houses can't be in the same neighborhood, okay? Reality says no." Len grins in amusement. 

"Okay, sure," he agrees. "So the developer doesn't want two of the same style house anywhere near each other. My Earth and your Earth are the same 'style' then?" 

"Bingo. Now, every neighborhood is a different size, has different amounts of houses, different styles in each of those neighborhoods- it's a real cluster fuck with zero planning or rhythm or reason," Cisco goes on. "Unfortunately, we can't just go dipping our fingers in whatever neighborhood we want, yeah? Can't just drive around and go look at houses. We need to know where we're going and that means mapping out the route old fashion style." 

"That still means you're making a route to an unknown location?" Len says in puzzlement. 

"You see our problem," Cisco agrees. "Now normally, I would be able to vibe _something_ from, like, touching you or something from your universe, you know? That would at least give us a better idea of where we're going even if I can't directly breach there." 

"But for some reason you can't do that?" he asks. 

"Ready for the complicated part?" Cisco asks. 

"Oh, everything until now was extremely simple," Len replies sarcastically. 

"I can't vibe anything from your planet because _the line's busy_ ," Cisco says. 

"Like an old phone?" Len asks. 

"Like keying two radios at the same time," Cisco insists. "I just get force feedback. Which, by the way, super unpleasant so if I've been avoiding touching you or your things, don't take it personally. Can't always control what and when I vibe." 

"But my Cisco- I didn't _know_ him to be a meta," Len murmurs.

"And he might not be," Cisco assures. "But there are other people with powers like mine just like there are other speedsters. If your Barry is that bad? A breacher from another house in your neighborhood may be quarantining your Earth." 

"But you said my Earth is still young and more so, the Flash hasn't been around that long," Len argues. "Why would someone quarantine us already?" 

" _You're_ from a young Earth," Cisco clarifies. "Time, unfortunately, doesn't really work like that. Additionally, might have gotten quarantined from suddenly having a bunch of breaches appear for no reason. _Maybe_ my bad." 

"My head hurts," Len says blandly. Cisco pats his back. 

"Just know we're working on it, buddy," he promises. Len nods agreeably. He does trust this Earth's Barry and he thinks he can trust both Ciscos and Caitlins. Maybe this Earth's Wells? But probably not his Earth's Wells. Len rubs his temple and Cisco laughs quietly. 

"Can I ask you something?" Len asks.

"Yeah, of course, dude," Cisco replies with a grin. 

"I don't mean to pry, you and Harry seem content together, I'm just curious why you and Barry broke up?" he questions. Cisco immediately sputters. 

"We didn't!" he assures louder than strictly necessary. "I mean- we were never _together_. And I'm not dating Harry either for the record. I'm not- I'm not dating anyone right now. We're not- why would you think we were ever together? Wait, your me isn't dating mean him, is he?" 

"I assumed he was," Len says. "I tried not to ask too much about Allen or what he was doing. Cisco was fond of him for some reason, though. Knowing this Barry, I guess I can see where Cisco might have been charmed by him before all the murder." 

"Okay, no," Cisco assures with a wave of the hand and shake of the head. "No, we're not dating and never have been, okay? Same goes for Harry."

"I heard you the first time," Len promises. "Then you wouldn't mind if I-?" 

"No offense, Len, I don't really think you're Harry's type," Cisco says firmly. Len stares at him a moment. 

"I meant Barry," he murmurs. 

"Oh," Cisco says. Another beat of silence. "I mean, _I_ wouldn't mind, no. You know he's married, right?" 

"Is he?" Len muses curiously. "Is that who I keep seeing wander around? Tall guy? Baby giraffe?" 

"Ralph?" Cisco replies. "What, no. Ralph's just like that. No, he and Iris are married." Len can't help the surprise on his face. "Yeah, listen, as a social circle we just don't bring up how weird it is they were basically raised as siblings, okay? At this point, I don't actually know how either of them would react." 

"Oh, I just thought he was gay," Len admits. 

"He's- you know what, why don't you go talk to Barry about this?" Cisco suggests. "This got all sorts of weird I wasn't expecting." 

"Right," Len murmurs back quietly. "Thank you anyways, I guess." 

"Yeah, sure, anytime buddy. Except the- you know what, nevermind, don't worry about it," Cisco says dismissively. He is quite different here than on Len's Earth. He's a lot more easy going and far less jumpy. It's kind of nice.

"Perhaps you should talk to Harry," Len mentions. "I think he may have the wrong impression of you two, as well." Cisco flusters nervously but clears his throat and nods. 

"I- yeah, I'll do that." 

X

"Dr. Wells," Barry says firmly. Wells stops and looks back at him.

"Yes Barry, is there a problem?" he asks. Barry grabs the collar of his shirt and nearly pulls him out of his chair, making him arch to not get strangled. Wells doesn't react right away, just stares at Barry for a long time, before finally saying, "problems would be a lot easier to solve if you used your words." 

"I can do both," Barry assures, twisting the fabric in his hand and making Wells wince. 

"Your multitasker skills are impeccable," Wells replies dryly. "Now, mind telling me what the problem is before I don't have enough air to answer you?" 

"Could a meta exist before the particle accelerator explosion?" Barry asks. 

"No," Wells says right away. 

" _No_?" Barry repeats.

"Not in any reasonable probability," Wells says. 

" _Reasonable probability_?" Barry repeats. Wells grips his wrist firmly to try to get some control of his neck back. 

"What would you _like_ to hear, Mr. Allen? Yes? That I've known about metas for years and just decided to hide them? That I _like_ taking responsibility for a new race of dangerous super humans for no reason?" Wells says sarcastically. "No. A meta could not have existed before the particle accelerator failure." 

"Well," Cisco pipes in. Wells gives him a stare of pure ice. "If a meta somehow got, like, time relative abilities from the accident-" 

" _No_ ," Wells repeats. "We would have known about them by now. There would have been catastrophes. Space and time would have _rioted_."

"Not necessarily," Cisco urges. "We still don't know the full scope of what dark matter can do."

" _Astronomically unlikely_ ," Wells insists. He's hiding something. Barry's known that for a long time. There is only a vague nagging feeling at the back of his head telling him _not_ to snap Wells' neck and be done with it. 

"We've seen a lot of unlikely things these last couple months," Cisco reminds him. "Hell, these last couple _days_." The look Wells gives him goes from cold to down right murderous. 

" _Fine_ ," Wells finally concedes. "In a series of extremely unlikely events, sure, a meta could be found before the accident. Are we done here, Mr. Allen?" Barry lets his shirt go and Wells irritably pats it flat again. He turns to leave in a huff. 

"Dr. Wells," Barry says. Wells stops. "If I find out you're hiding my mother's killer from me-" 

"You'll kill me?" he finishes, unamused. 

"I'll do much worse than that," Barry promises. Wells doesn't turn to look back at him and simply continues on out. 

"Charming as always, Mr. Allen," he replies coldly. Barry definitely wasn't satisfied with any of those answers. Cisco touches his arm faintly and Barry glances at him. 

"Are you okay?" he asks. 

"Fine," Barry scoffs back. "You know, Cisco, more and more it feels like you're the only person I can trust." 

"I know Wells' demeanor can be a little abrasive and- cold sometimes but you can trust him, you know. He wouldn't lie to you about something like _that_ ," Cisco assures.

"You better be right," Barry replies sharply. Cisco swallows thickly but he nods. 

"I promise," he says. 

"I don't want to talk about Wells," Barry says dismissively, crossing his arms over his chest. Cisco nods. 

"Okay," he murmurs. "Do you want to talk about detective West opening up your mother's case again?" 

"Not particularly," Barry replies. 

"Um. How about those sports?" Cisco says awkwardly. Barry can't help but crack a smile. "There we go. Hey, why don't we go sit in the longue? I can make you a decafe latte?" 

"Yeah, okay," Barry agrees. "That sounds nice, Cisco. Thank you." Cisco pats him on the back fondly and they head down to the longue. Barry makes himself comfortable on the couch while Cisco fusses in the kitchenette. With Caitlin choosing her fiance over the safety of the city they've been working towards, he feels he can trust Wells less than ever. Not to mention Wells' _severe_ reaction over Barry putting Thawne in the hospital a while back. Barry hasn't yet found what the connection there is but he especially doesn't like that. As much as Wells insisted it had to do with aggravating the police, it clearly ran deeper than that. 

Wells is trying to leash him; time and time again he makes that more than clear. Barry _knows_ what gaslighting looks like. He knows what the desperate attempts of a parent trying to forcibly contain an unruly child looks like. Wells is floundering trying to get control of Barry just like every foster parent Barry's had. 

Cisco hands him a coffee cup quietly and Barry looks up to him briefly before taking it. 

"Thank you," he says with a smile. He sets it aside and Cisco sits beside him. 

"Course," he agrees. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I mean, I feel like-" Barry puts a hand on his knee and Cisco looks at him questioningly. He leans in, slow enough to give Cisco a chance to pull away, and kisses him faintly. Cisco closes his eyes and Barry feels him sigh happily. He grins as he pulls away again and Cisco looks at him adoringly for a few seconds. 

"Yeah," he murmurs. "Or we could do that. We could definitely do that, instead." Barry scoots in closer, cupping Cisco's jaw in one hand and letting Cisco wrap a tentative arm around his waist. He relaxes into it better with a few more kisses. Their coffee ends up cold long before either of them get around to drinking it. 


	4. Chapter 4

"Lunch?" Iris offers. Caitlin perks up briefly, taking a moment to look over what she's doing before deciding she can walk away from it and nods. 

"Sure," she agrees with a smile. "Where's Barry?" 

"Oh, they called him in to assist with an emergency," Iris explains. "He says it's a complete mess and swarming with civilians so no speedy shortcuts today." 

"Did something happen?" Caitlin asks worriedly. 

"Haven't heard yet. Barry thinks a meta was involved but until he can piece everything together, he doesn't want to say for sure if it's as many bodies as it looks like," Iris says. Caitlin grimaces. "Len, want to come?" 

Len looks away from his sketchbook when he's addressed suddenly. He's been mostly using it for notes lately but even on another Earth he can't help but study pretty buildings. Star Labs is, after all, nearly identical to the one on his Earth so it's not like it's a wasted effort. Barry mentioned guest rooms and Len finds it comforting to play with how he might go about doing that. They don't necessarily keep him cooped up in the lab but Len hesitates leaving it. 

Caitlin isn't much different from his own. Iris, on the other hand, is similar but lacking a lot of the bitterness and anger his does. That seems to be a theme on this Earth.

"I guess some fresh air would be nice," Len agrees quietly and he closes his sketchbook. Iris smiles at him. Fortunately, he gets along with her just as well as he gets along with his own. He leaves his things to tag along and the three of them head out. He keeps waiting for a call or text from Mick or Lisa but clearly signal doesn't travel across Earths so well.

It's incredible how similar everything here is. The city is laid out the same and aside from some minor aesthetical changes, the buildings are the same by his eye as well. There are a few changes, interestingly enough, he can immediately track back to their source; all the buildings he designed on his Earth are wildly different on this Earth. It's fascinating. 

"Doing alright, Len?" Iris asks as they walk. "Barry said you were pretty high strung when you got here." 

"I wasn't high strung," Len assures. "I was terrified of the Flash- under the assumption he was my Flash, of course." 

"You're really not a meta, right?" she questions. "Would he have actually hurt you?" Len understands where they're coming from; they know their Barry so it's hard to wrap their heads around the idea of his Barry. It's the same issue he's having. 

"I don't know," Len says. "Before I 'left', he was upset and just seeing him in Star Labs alone might have been enough for him." Iris frowns at him. It's still amazing to him that she and Barry are married. They absolutely loathe each other on his Earth even before Allen was ever the Flash. 

"It's still hard to believe Barry could become like that," Caitlin murmurs.

"Yeah, I think it's been bothering him," Iris admits. "After the whole thing with Savitar, I think he's under the impression he's a thin strand from snapping." 

"I doubt that," Len assures with an amused huff. "Your Barry is so sweet and charming. I'm not sure mine would even think twice about the idea that there's a version of him that _doesn't_ kill out there." The very idea that Barry is stressed over something he didn't do and had no control over simply because it _could_ have been him is- kind of endearing in an odd way. Seeing the Flash so empathetic really makes Len wish his own was more caring. 

"Barry's pretty easily stressed out," Caitlin says but she smiles. "He's been through a lot." 

"But he's had you guys," Len replies. "That's obviously made the difference." 

"Well, regardless of what made the difference, I'm glad," Iris insists. "I feel bad just knowing there's a me out there that's so mean to him." 

"I'm fairly certain Allen started it," Len murmurs. "But I understand your sentiment. It's still hard to believe your me is a _thief_." 

"He was a very good thief, though," Iris reminds him with a grin. Len gives her an unamused look. That doesn't make him feel better. "Besides, just because he was a thief doesn't mean he was a bad person. He just- liked possessing things that weren't his." Len scoffs a laugh. 

"Thinking about my father and all the terrible things he did, the very idea that I might have done _anything_ like him makes me sick," he assures. "Then to involve Lisa in it, too?" 

"To be fair," Caitlin says. "Lisa involved _herself_ in it." 

"And if you hadn't killed your dad, I'm pretty sure she would have done it herself after what he did to her," Iris agrees. Len pales suddenly and Caitlin grimaces.

"Oh, I don't think Barry told him our Len killed Lewis," she says quietly. 

"He might have left that bit out, yes," Len agrees at once. "Good to know other me is a killer, too." 

"He- did what he thought was best," Iris assures quietly. Just like his Barry; the irony doesn't escape him. Unlike his Barry, though, they don't seem to be _afraid_ of the other Len. In fact, they clearly like him quite a lot. "In the end, he really was a good guy, you know. Maybe there's still hope for your Barry?" 

It's not a new idea. Len keeps thinking about what went so wrong with his Earth's Flash and if there's even fixing it anymore. It feels like the more Allen becomes the Flash, the less he becomes like this Earth's Barry. Would it really be possible to pull him back from how far he's gone? More so, would it matter if they could? With everything he's done already, Len isn't sure his Earth can survive having a Flash like this Barry anymore. 

They grab a table outside. 

"I wouldn't even know where to start with that," Len admits. 

"Surely there has to be something that could get him to reconsider," Caitlin says. "Or someone?" Len has to think about it but eventually, he shakes his head. 

"Cisco, maybe?" he murmurs. "But it's more likely Allen would just abuse him harder if Cisco tried to go against him. Not to mention kill anyone he thought was trying to turn _his_ Cisco against him." This makes them both grimace. As nice as it is to see a good Flash, it must be dog awful hearing how bad Len's is. It truly makes him reconsider going back sometimes. 

"There can't be _nothing_ ," Iris insists. 

"I think the fact that there is nothing is the whole reason it's an issue," Caitlin assures softly. "Remember, it's not that Len's Barry has just lost everything; he never even got to _have_ some of it. He didn't get you or Joe. It very well could be that there's not a soft side to uncover because he never had the privilege to have one in the first place." It's hard not to feel a little bad for Flash. After everything he's been through, Len understands a little bit more why he's the way he is. He can't say that excuses anything but knowing now that he was a few bad life decisions away from being even more like his father, Len can't imagine what he would be if _everything_ went wrong. 

"I still can't believe dad didn't take him," Iris says. "I mean, what _possible_ reason could he have had not to? Nora and Henry mean so much to him, how could he not watch after their son?"

"I'm sorry we can't be more help, Len," Caitlin offers. 

"Actually, I think this is helpful," Len replies. "No one really knows what motivates the Flash back home. He does his thing and everyone just gives him a wide berth and hopes he leaves them alone. Knowing there are reasons for why he acts the way he does could save lives." 

His specifically, in fact. 

"Whatever we can do to help, we want to," Iris assures. 

"I appreciate it," Len says. They exchange smiles. 

X

Len might not approve of the other him becoming a thief but he understands why he would make a good one. Even just roaming around Star Labs, people tend to just not notice him. It's definitely not intentional. He looks up from his journal as he enters Cisco's part of the lab only to find him and Harry in what is obviously a very passionate make out session. 

So much for not dating? 

Admittedly, Len can't help but find this weird. Out of everyone, Harry is the most like Len's version of him- or not him? Barry tells him that's because Eobard is a very good actor which, if Wells really is Eobard, upgrades everything to a completely different level of weird. He attributes his feelings to the fact that his Barry barely tolerates Wells and likely would just kill them both if he made a move on Cisco. That clearly isn't a concern here so Len tries not to let it worry him. 

"I hate to interrupt-" Len says. They part so suddenly and with such ferocity, several things end up on the ground. 

"Whoa! Okay! How about a _little_ bit of privacy?" Cisco says urgently, more than a little flustered. Harry turns to face in the completely opposite direction of Len awkwardly. Len glances back at the doorless, wide open doorway curiously, then back again. "You know what, nevermind. Just-" 

"I gotta- something- not here," Harry mumbles as he skitters out of the room. He doesn't seem to like being around Len very much, either. 

"Sorry," Len offers. 

"It's fine," Cisco assures curtly. "What's up?" 

"Could you identify something from a drawing for me?" Len asks. 

"This couldn't have waited?" Cisco asks. 

"It could have," Len replies. "I was just going to ask when you had some free time before you tried to gouge Harry on your microscope." Cisco firms his lips briefly but sighs. 

"Yeah, I mean, obviously if I know what it is, probably," he says. "And if it's a decent drawing." Len opens his journal up to the right page and shows it to Cisco. "That's the core to the cold gun," he answers without hesitation. 

"Cold gun?" Len repeats back. That does sound like what Allen had harassed Cisco about but the idea is still just a little too abstract for him to wrap a solid thought around. 

"Oh, you never used the cold gun cause you're like a normal dude, right," Cisco says. He shifts a bit uncomfortably. "Uh, back when Barry was first starting to be the Flash, I made some, uh, 'anti' Flash weapons? I wasn't sure how dangerous he was going to be and wanted to make sure if anything happened, we could stop him." 

"You thought your Flash might be a bad guy?" Len asks skeptically. 

" _No_ ," Cisco assures. "I just didn't know him that well at the time and the things he could do made me- nervous. Besides, we had our fair share of rocky starts, too. I think this whole thing with you and your evil Barry is making some of us realise how bad we've treated Barry sometimes. In retrospect? There were probably a lot of situations we could have avoided had we just listened to him." 

Len knows the situation is wildly different but he doesn't exactly like having to hear his Flash might actually be right about all the murder and harassment. Nor does he like the idea that the way to Allen's empathy is to show faith in his decisions. That clearly hasn't gone so hot for Cisco.

"The weapons?" Len asks pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah," Cisco agrees. "I planned on making two guns; one for absolute cold and one for absolute hot. Obviously the 'absolute' hot thing was a stupid idea in the first place not to mention, like, supreme overkill, so I didn't actually do that. It's easier to get to absolutely cold, though. The prototypes were stolen by our Snart to bully Barry for, uh, reasons I'm still not totally clear on. They made out a lot, though, so I'm assuming it had to do with that?" 

"These guns just made things very cold and very hot, then?" Len pushes further, trying to keep Cisco on topic. He's still obviously pretty flustered and definitely trying not to bring up the fact that he and Harry definitely aren't dating. 

"Yeah, exactly. Doesn't sound impressive when you put it that way, though," he replies with a bit of a disgruntled scoff. "Speedster's are incredibly vulnerable to extreme temperatures. Changing the speed of which their atoms move that severely can completely negate them." 

"That's incredible," Len murmurs. "Can I have the designs for those? Something like that would be- immensely helpful." 

"Uh," Cisco replies hesitantly. "Sure, yeah. Two things though. A, you _need_ the core for the cold gun. The heat gun you could probably jury rig at a cost of power but the cold gun isn't going to function without the core. Or it will and you're just going to piss him off." 

"I believe Allen took it away from Cisco when he was first toying with the idea," Len says thoughtfully. "Could he have destroyed it?" 

"Not without probably killing himself," Cisco assures. "Ask Barry, he might be able to give you some places to start looking. Just be careful with that thing. The whole reason I can't make another now is because Rory still has the prototype with the core in it. Replicating it- it's not impossible but it might as well be." 

"I'll keep that in mind," Len promises. "And the second thing?" 

"I just- I need you to understand that I made these things with the express function to maim, if not _kill_ , well, Barry specifically but really any speedster," Cisco says. He's clearly not too proud of this. "Just remember that, okay?" Len doesn't want to maim or kill Allen as much as they don't want to be comfortable with the idea that Allen might honestly be beyond redemption but if that's what it comes to, then what choice do they have? If Allen is bad now, how much worse is he going to get after going through the things this Barry has? 

"I understand," Len says. Cisco nods a bit solemnly before he's moving to go through his things. Len just watches as he rifles through papers after papers.

"Sorry, Thawne destroyed the digital copies after he found out about them and I never put them back in the system," Cisco explains. "Here we go. The best part is, I can give you the _upgraded_ version. Save your Cisco a whole _bunch_ of time." 

"Thank you. I really appreciate this, Cisco," Len replies with a smile. Cisco smiles back. They stand around his desk while Len copies the schematics into his journal with Cisco instructing him on where to make what changes. Eventually, Harry does wander back in. He pauses in the door frame suspiciously before skulking around to see what they're doing. He looks over Len's shoulder none too politely. Fortunately, Len is used to Mick doing this so it doesn't actually bother him too much. 

"You can't take that journal back with you," Harry finally says. That, however, Len doesn't like. He stops what he's doing to look back at Harry. 

"What? Why? We agreed we were going to help him if we could," Cisco argues. 

"Not help him get murdered," Harry scoffs back. "Regardless as to how we _get_ you home, Earth Forty-Three Flash is going to suspect meta activity and if Cisco breaches you there, it's safe to assume Flash will be on you immediately." 

"Forty-Three?" Len murmurs back. 

"If he doesn't immediately kill you without asking any questions, at the very _least_ he's going to wonder what you were up to," Harry goes on. "We _can_ _not_ allow him access to any of the information we're giving you. Nor can we afford another deranged speedster on this Earth, honestly." 

"That's- unfortunately a good point," Cisco agrees tiredly. "Encoding it outright would make it too obvious." 

"And with Flash's increased comprehension and competency, a single slip up would make the whole thing pointless," Harry says. 

"Okay, that was mean," Cisco says. "So we need a way to get information across Earths without Flash knowing." 

"Invisible ink?" Len suggests. They both look at him for a moment, musing over the idea before clearly coming to two different conclusions. Just as Harry is clearly going to say no, Cisco talks over him. 

"I _always_ wanted to make invisible ink," he says excitedly. Harry sighs loudly. "Now how to expose it." Before anyone can say anything, he snaps. " _Contacts_. Like glasses but better and more discreet. _Mm_ , this is going to be so cool!" 

"Can we focus on the not getting Len murdered part?" Harry says dryly. 

"Dude, that's like the coolest part of it," Cisco assures. "I got to go get some stuff out of the medbay. Be right back." He scurries out of the room in an excited gallop and Len and Harry don't say anything to each other while he's gone. 

X

Quietly, Len peeks into the medbay where Barry lays with an ice pack on his face. He got hit pretty hard- then thrown into a building pretty hard. Then fell pretty hard. All in quick succession. Len knows he heals fast but until then, he's as uncomfortable as anyone else would be. Len knocks on the door frame and Barry moves the ice pack enough to look at him and smile. 

"Hey," he says softly.

"Off day?" Len asks. Barry huffs a laugh. 

"Something like that," he murmurs and moves the ice pack back over his face. Len comes to sit in the chair beside his bed. "Off couple of years." 

"Why do you say that?" Len asks. 

"While I appreciate no one telling you yet, I think it's pretty obvious I'm actually a supreme fuck up who's never made a rational decision in his life," Barry replies. "Even I don't have time to list everything." 

"Seems a bit harsh for letting one meta go," Len murmurs. 

"'Let go' sounds a lot nicer than 'lost'," Barry says. 

"She was feisty," Len says. "And obviously scared. Cornering her just would have made her more scared."

"She's going to hurt someone if we can't find her soon," Barry reminds him. "She doesn't have _any_ control of her powers and they're getting stronger the longer she's in sunlight." 

"You could have just killed her," Len suggests. Barry frowns. 

"I understand the point you're making and I don't like it," he replies mildly, peering out from under his ice. Len shrugs. 

"I think you handled the situation well even if it got you hurt," he says. "I think she's going to find somewhere to calm down and when she does, she's going to realise she hurt you and that the next time she hurts someone, they might not bounce back like you do. Then, hopefully, she'll come here on her own." Barry sighs. 

"I hope you're right," he murmurs. 

"Does it still hurt?" Len asks, reaching to touch Barry's jaw where there was a gnarly bruise just a little while ago. It's gone from dark purple to yellow and now it's nearly gone. 

"I'm okay," Barry assures. 

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," Len scoffs back. Barry laughs quietly. He moves the ice pack down to his chest and takes a deep breath. 

"Hurts a little," he admits. "I can still hear one of my ribs crackling." Barry takes Len's hand and puts it on his rib, letting him feel it shifting as it heals on its own. Len shudders uncomfortably at the sensation.

"Ouch," he murmurs. "How long does it usually take to heal?" 

"Something like this? Maybe an hour. Forty five minutes if I have good food in me," Barry explains. Len gently strokes the curve of his rib with his fingers, careful not to apply any pressure. Barry takes his fingers gently.

"Len," he says quietly. "I, uh, I should tell you something." Len withdraws his hand all at once, suddenly hyper aware of everything happening. 

"You and Iris are married," Len says. "I know. I wasn't- I wasn't trying to flirt with you." Barry laughs. 

"No," he assures. "Iris and I are poly, Len. She has a girlfriend, you know." Len blinks dumbly. He's not sure what to say to that. "If it makes you feel better, we, uh, we've already talked about you. Iris is _very_ approving. We get a good feeling about you. That's- that's surprisingly rare." 

Len knows even less how to reply to that. Tentatively, he slides his fingers back under Barry's. The feel of his chest slowly rising and falling and his heart steadily going is comforting. 

"What did you want to tell me, then?" Len asks curiously.

"I, uh," he murmurs and flusters a little. "I've had 'things' with almost every Len I've met?" It's Len's turn to laugh; hard and deep. Barry laughs with him but it's quieter. 

"Why is that funny?" he asks in amusement. 

"If you're telling me you might only like me because I'm _a_ Len, I'm okay with that," he promises. "Admittedly, my attraction to you may be seeded in some questionable feelings for my own Barry, too. I think we're even." 

"Alright, even," Barry agrees in amusement. He strokes Len's fingers in his own and quietly, their amusement fades again. "You have a thing for your Barry, then?" 

"I didn't think I did," Len admits. "Then I met you and I- I'm not sure anymore. I know he _isn't_ you and isn't anything like you but I just keep thinking about why Cisco has a thing for him. I know it's probably just abuse and manipulation and- even someone as smart as Cisco can fall victim to things like that but-" he sighs. "What's the difference between an Earth and a timeline?" 

"I- don't know," Barry replies. "That's probably a question for Cisco and Harry." 

"What if my Cisco vibed something from this Earth? Or another Earth, even. What if he saw that our Barry was broken?" Len asks. Barry frowns at him. "If we _can_ 'fix' him and we don't even try- aren't we equally as complacent in his torture as everyone else?" 

"I don't know," Barry says softly. "I'm sorry, Len." 

"I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back," he confesses. "Every plan I make- I just don't want anyone else to die." Barry holds his fingers tightly. 

"We're going to keep helping you, okay? Hopefully we can help stop anymore deaths," he says. Len wishes it were that easy. 

X

Barry knocks on the suite door and after a few moments, it opens. He actually has to look _up_ at the man. 

"Mick Rory?" he asks. Rory grunts back at him. Barry shows him his badge. "I'm CSI Barry Allen. I'm here to investigate your missing person's report about Leonard Snart?" 

"You expect to find his body here or somethin'?" Rory replies dryly. 

"'Crime scene' doesn't mean murder," Barry assures with a smile. "Can I come in?" 

"Do you have a warrant?" Rory asks, very intentionally blocking the entire doorway with his body. 

"Technically, I'm not an officer and I don't need a warrant," he says. 

" _Technically_ ," Rory repeats. "You're under employment of the CCPD. You need a warrant." 

"If you're going to make this difficult, I'd be happy to come back with an arrest warrant for interfering with a criminal investigation," Barry offers. That makes Rory shrivel a little. "Now, can I come in?" Slowly, Rory moves aside and Barry slips past him into the small office suite. It's just Rory and Snart sharing the place so it's not surprising it's so small. He looks around. 

"I told the CCPD, Len was at Star Labs last," Rory says irritably. 

"And Star Labs told us he was last seen _leaving_ Star Labs, a fact backed up with video evidence," Barry replies, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. Rory sneers at him. 

"All the shit they do in there and you think they can't fake a video?" he demands. Barry smiles at him. 

"Let me do my job and I'll locate Mr. Snart a lot faster," he assures. Rory actually growls a little but, ultimately, doesn't press the issue. He follows Barry into Len's office and stands ominously in the doorway to watch as Barry rifles through things. "Have you been in here since Snart disappeared?" 

"Of course," Rory scoffs back. "I still have jobs to complete and clients to attend to whether or not Len's here." Barry 'hm's unhappily. He flips through the fan of business cards on the desk but nothing sticks out. Then he begins searching the drawers. Rory clearly isn't happy about this. There's nothing interesting to note here, either, just work gear. Len's smart enough not to leave any incriminating evidence in the open, though. 

"Is this his sister?" Barry asks, holding up the picture on the desk. 

"Yeah," Rory replies after a hesitant moment. 

"She didn't leave any contact number. Would you happen to have any?" Barry asks. 

"No," Rory says, an obvious lie. "She travels a lot for her training. She calls when she feels like it." Barry moves over to search a filing cabinet. 

"No cellphone in this day and age? How odd," he comments. 

"She doesn't like being bothered while she's training," Rory says firmly. 

"Good timing to call _exactly_ when her brother went missing," Barry says. "Do you know of any reasons Lisa might want Len to 'not be around' anymore?" 

"You suggestin' _Lisa_ had something to do with his disappearance?" Rory snaps. " _No_. Lisa adores her brother- and Len adores her just as much. She wouldn't-" 

"Do you know if Len showed any meta abilities?" Barry asks. 

"No," Rory scoffs even more aggressively. He works his jaw uncomfortably. "Not- not that I knew about. Could- could Flash have gotten him?" 

"As far as we know, Flash doesn't exactly hide bodies," Barry assures. "But if Len was a meta, he could have fled into hiding." 

"No, he would have told me," Rory says. "Or if not me, Lisa." If Len was a meta, he discovered it suddenly, but Barry is now certain that isn't the case. Rory's right, Len would have reached out to someone for help. The fact that he's gone radio silent implies he's legitimately missing. Perhaps he's actually dead but again, Barry hasn't found a body in any of his searches. Len has literally disappeared off the face of the Earth. Along with his cellphone. 

"Can you open this safe?" Barry asks. 

"Safe? What safe?" Rory replies questioningly. Barry gestures to the false panel at the back of one of the cabinet drawers and Rory looks at it silently for a long time. 

"No," he says. "I didn't know that was there." 

"I see," Barry murmurs. "I think I'm just about done here. It looks like he never made it back here, you're right. He must have disappeared immediately after leaving Star Labs. Could you make me a copy of your and Mr. Snart's business license as well as a list of any potential clients that might be unhappy with him?" 

"Clients?" Rory repeats. 

"Yes. Without any way of telling who's a meta, it's entirely likely someone with newly found power is making a list," Barry explains. "If Mr. Snart found himself on one of those lists, he might very well be the first of many. We don't want that." 

"No," Rory says quietly. "No, we don't. Len was good with clients, though, never had a complaint. Never dealt with anyone we thought would be a problem. But-" he trails off. 

"But?" Barry presses. 

"Sam Scudder and Rosa Dillion," Rory says. "I don't know the full story but I guess they have a grudge against him. James Jesse, too. I'd say Roy Bivolo but hard to hold a grudge from beyond the grave." 

"I'll look into them," Barry promises. Rory nods. "I still need those copies and would like a list of anyone else with motive behind Snart's disappearance." Rory looks at the safe again and frowns. 

"Yeah," he says. "Okay." Finally he leaves the room and Barry turns back to the safe. It's pretty complex and failing to guess the combination too many times would likely set off an alarm. Barry just phases a hand through the side of it. A gun; surprising. Some papers, mostly legal regarding certain possessions and deeds. A box with, he's presuming, sentimental garbage in it. None of this gives him anything to go off of. 

There's a little 'black' book, though, that Barry speed reads with some interest. So Len has been talking to Iris West and, more importantly, Eddie Thawne. Thawne neglected to mention that. No wonder he was so quick to pick up a missing persons case like this. Now what could they have to talk about? 

Barry takes the picture of Lisa and the article clipping about Lewis Snart's failed attempt at stealing an emerald, pocketing them both.

If Len has told anyone anything, it's going to be Lisa. Finding her shouldn't be a problem. He'll also need to find out what he's been talking to Iris and Thawne about and follow up on those 'enemies' Rory named. 

Rory returns with the copies he asked for- which Barry doesn't actually want or need- as well as a small hand written list. 

"Thank you very much, Mr. Rory," Barry says, packing them away in an envelope and tucking it in with the rest of his things. He takes his gloves off and offers Rory a hand shake. Rory accepts it tentatively after a moment. 

"Yeah. Thanks for lookin' into this," he replies. "Didn't actually think anyone would, honest. Sorry for the push back." 

"Don't worry, I understand," Barry assures with a smile. "I want to find Mr. Snart as much as you do. I just need room to do my job." 

"Sure," Rory murmurs. "If you need anything else, lemme know." 

"I will," Barry agrees. "I'll let you know if I find anything significant, Mr. Rory. Have a good day." 

Len is currently the only lead Barry has on whatever those portals were. If he finds Len, he finds out what happened. Hopefully before it happens again. 


	5. Chapter 5

Len looks up briefly as Cisco rejoins him but then he's right back to his work. He's had to take his journal apart and rebind it in order to take all the incriminating notes out which was annoying but not difficult. Now he's on to using the invisible ink Cisco supplies him with to copy the schematics over again over the top of his work. This is both more time consuming and, as it turns out, not entirely his forte.

"How's it working out?" Cisco asks. 

"Well," Len assures. "And my eyes are not bleeding yet so I'll count that as a win." 

"You're writing over your floor plans? That's- a pretty good idea, actually," Cisco murmurs. 

"Staring at blank pages would be suspicious," Len comments. "If my abusive father taught me anything, it's hypervigilance and paranoia." The closer he comes to going home, the more anxious Len becomes. Even with all the schematics they're supplying him with to go toe to toe with a viable _god_ , Len becomes more sure this is a bad idea. 

"Are you going to be okay going back to your Earth?" Cisco asks softly. Len sighs and he puts his pen down to rub his eyes. 

"I have to be," he murmurs. "I can't just turn my back on those people- beyond Mick and my sister. Flash needs to be stopped before he can't be anymore." 

"I understand," Cisco says and he touches Len's shoulder comfortingly. Barry peeks in and seeing them as they are, makes a questioning face as he joins them. 

"To be honest, though, I'm equally afraid of what happens _without_ Flash," Len admits. "There's going to be a lot of metas that start coming out once they know the Flash isn't a threat anymore. A lot of _dangerous_ metas." 

"Someone will step up," Barry promises. "They always do." 

"And if it's another 'someone' like Flash?" Len asks. Barry shares a look with Cisco. 

"There's probably going to be a lot of hard things in your Earth's future even after the Flash but trust me, none of those things are impossible to solve without him," he assures. "You won't be alone." 

"Yeah, you'll have Mick! And hopefully your Cisco if all goes well," Cisco says. 

"Iris and Eddie and Joe as well," Barry adds on. 

"And Caitlin and _maybe_ Killer Frost? Not sure how that one's gonna go," Cisco says. Len exhales quietly. Yeah, if everything goes according to plan, things will be a lot easier. Unfortunately, he fears that's not going to be as easy as it sounds. Already he has to wonder if his Cisco is too far off the deep end. If Len tries to encourage him to act against Flash and Cisco decides to rat him out instead, he's dead in the water. 

"Yeah," he says softly. "You're right. I have plenty of material here, I just need to build something stable with it. I can do that." He'll have to be patient and thoughtful, that's all. He got to where he is with those traits; this isn't any different. 

Well, it's actually a lot different and taking his sweet time will likely mean more people die but not doing anything at all assures people die, too. Len just has to approach this knowing there's nothing he can do about that no matter what he does or how much help he has. As long as he keeps a cool head, hopefully they can get the Flash put away in due time. 

"I'm going to go double check some things with Harry," Cisco says. Barry nods and Cisco leaves them alone together. 

"I'm sorry this is falling on your shoulders," he says, gently rubbing Len's back. "I wish there was more we could do." Short of showing up to physically strongarm his Flash, they've done all they can. As much as Len wishes just letting them fight his Flash would work, he knows that's not only an unnecessary risk but likely wouldn't turn out well for anyone. He can't even ask them to try until everything else has gone so terribly wrong, he has no choice. He really hopes it never gets that far. 

"I still can't believe my Flash is you," Len admits. "I feel so- _sorry_ for him. How much suffering must he have gone through to go from someone like you to- to that?" 

"There are times that I've let my pain define me and that's caused me to make some very bad choices," Barry says. "I was lucky enough to have people that care about me and supported me. If your Flash is truly all alone? Be very careful, Len." 

That worries Len, too. What is Flash going to be after this? If Len really turns Cisco against him? Central City? If they take his powers from him? What's left? Len looks down at the schematics for the anti meta collar he's transferring into his journal. 

What does it make him if he pries every little thing Flash has left out of his fingers? 

"You're a good man, Len," Barry murmurs, reaching to take Len's hand in his own. Len huffs a quiet laugh as he looks at them. "I wish I'd had more time to get to know you." 

"Yeah, me too," Len agrees. "Maybe if everything works out on my Earth, I'll come visit. Or, if things go terribly wrong I'll come hide out here."

"Here's hoping it's the first," Barry replies in amusement. Len smiles at him. It's hard for him to say for sure which of them actually initiates the kiss but it's light and sweet and tingles his skin like static. He's tempted to take another but it feels wrong somehow. 

"I, uh, I'll let you get back to work," Barry says with a happy little grin. Len can't help but smile too as he leaves the room. 

X

"Iris," Barry calls, approaching her in the lobby. "Just the person I wanted to see." She gives him a sour look in reply and crosses her arms. 

"Too bad I never want to see you," comes the already irritated response. Barry smiles at her as Eddie gets up from his desk and sprints across the precinct to attempt to mediate. 

"Is that why you were trespassing in my lab again?" Barry asks, holding up the picture of her going through his things. Iris scowls at him. "Last warning, West, trespass again and I'm filing a restraining order." 

"She won't do it again," Eddie assures swiftly. Iris doesn't say anything but she glares daggers at him- likely more upset she didn't find anything than for actually having been caught. Whatever she was hoping to find, Barry certainly isn't dumb enough to keep evidence in his _evidence_ _processing_ _lab_. And if she's just trying to catch him doing his job poorly, she's free to keep trying. 

"Right. That wasn't actually what I wanted to talk to you about, anyways," he says. He holds up the file folder in his hand pointedly and Eddie tilts his head a little to read the name on it. "I spoke to Mick Rory about the Snart case. He said you and Snart had spoken quite a bit. Was there any point in this investigation that you felt like that was something you should have shared?" 

"No," Iris answers coldly. "It's not _relevant_ to your case." 

"Like father, like daughter, huh? Obviously _you_ get to decide what's relevant. That checks out," Barry replies. Eddie looks at Iris with a quiet disappointment. 

"Iris, what _were_ you doing talking to Snart so much?" he asks. She looks up at him irritably before glaring at Barry again. Finally, she sighs. 

"My dad wants to give us the house as a wedding gift, Eddie," she says. "He says it's too big for him now and wants us to have it. I was getting some advice on remodeling from Snart since we usually get coffee at the same time. I was trying to keep it a surprise." Eddie sighs, a noise somewhere between relieved and apologetic. 

"Next time it has to do with a case, you should tell me, okay?" he says softly. Iris nods. 

"Isn't it nice when people overlook withholding evidence because you're the lead detective's daughter and his partner's fiance?" Barry asks sweetly. Eddie steps in front of her before she can put her foot in her mouth. 

"Barry, why did you go talk to Rory without me? This is my case," he urges. 

"Because, detective Thawne, I've found out the Flash is also looking for Snart," Barry says. Eddie pales. "But by all means, if you want to step on his toes, feel free."

"No, I- no, that's alright. Just- let me know before you do anything else," he says. Barry isn't going to do that. 

"It sounds to me like you have a conflict of interest, anyways," he replies, looking at Iris none too coyly. "If that's going to be an issue, perhaps you should pass it off." 

"It's not an issue," Eddie assures. Barry smiles up at him. 

"No. It never is with Iris, is it?" he says. He heads back for his lab and Eddie follows a few steps. 

"Barry wait," he calls but Barry doesn't do that, either. He has more important things to deal with than Eddie and Iris right now. Besides, he accomplished what he needed to. Bottom line: if Iris knows something about Len, she's not going to tell Barry. He could threaten her as the Flash but the results of that would be mixed at best. Now he's sown a seed of doubt in Eddie, though, and she will tell him if she knows anything. 

Getting Eddie to tell him anything is far easier. 

X

It feels weird to be leaving. 

No, not weird; terrifying. The idea of going back to his own Flash after getting to know Barry is more looming than ever now that he's stood in the cortex waiting to leave. Len's already steeled in his decision but it doesn't pass him that he has a legitimate option to stay here indefinitely. 

"Alright, Len, once I open a breach to your Earth, you'll have to go quick," Cisco says. "If I keep it open too long, your Flash might come through not to mention, you know, breaching through that quarantine isn't, like, going to be the best experience in the world for me." 

"Thank you," Len replies with a small nod. Cisco smiles at him warmly.

"Course," he assures. "You need anything else, just let us know." Len huffs a laugh. 

"If only," he murmurs. The only way he's getting back here is if his Cisco also turns out to be a meta and at that point, they already have bigger problems. 

"Actually," Cisco says with a coy grin. Len looks at him questioningly. " _I_ have a gift for you." 

"Just give it to him," Harry scoffs impatiently.

"I'm giving it to him," Cisco replies, swatting Harry away from him and hurriedly skipping forward a few steps. He holds out a pen and Len arches a brow as he slowly takes it. 

"More invisible ink?" he asks. 

"Yes," Cisco says. 

" _No_ ," Harry says exhaustively. 

"Also yes," Cisco says. He takes the pen back and untwists the two halves. It still looks like a normal pen. Len stares blankly. Cisco further takes it apart to show off the strange tech in the upper part of the pen. 

"What is this?" Len asks curiously. 

"An interdimensional extrapolator," Cisco explains. "Remastered for stealth." 

"I don't know what those words mean," Len replies. 

"It opens a breach between your Earth and our Earth on command," Cisco explains further as he puts the pen back together. "For emergencies, of course. If you ever need to get back here in a hurry, you can use this. I can't stress this enough, though, you have to manually close the breach behind you, okay?" Len takes the pen again and examines it curiously but it just looks, and _feels_ , like another of his fountain pens. Cisco is truly amazing sometimes. He sticks it in his shirt pocket. 

"I truly can't thank you guys enough," Len says. "You've done so much for me. If there's anything I can do to thank you, please let me know." 

"Hey, a Len is a Len," Cisco assures and he offers his hand to shake. Len laughs. "We'll always watch out for you, got it?" 

"There is one thing," Harry murmurs from Cisco heels. Cisco gives him a mild look over his shoulder. 

"Really? _No_ , we don't need repayment," he says firmly. 

"Visit when you have everything sorted out," Harry says. Len smiles at him and he offers a mute smile back. 

"Alright, yeah, that you can actually do for us," Cisco grumbles begrudgingly. Barry zips in suddenly, smiling and bubbly as usual. 

"I'm here," he says. "Ready to go?" 

"I believe so," Len agrees. He spreads his arms and Barry quickly gives him a speedy pat down just to be sure. 

"Didn't find anything," Barry promises. "I think you're good. Sure you want to do this?" 

"Still sure," Len says. "This was nice for the time but my own Earth needs me right now." Barry nods with a solemn, but strangely proud, smile. Everyone else gathers around to bid him goodbye with friendly hugs and handshakes. Once they're done, Len grabs his bag more firmly and gives Cisco a nod. 

"Good luck," Barry offers. Cisco opens the breach and hastily, Len hops through. That's when he hears the alarm. He glances back in time to see everyone scrambling. 

"The satellite's falling," Harry says urgently. 

"What do you mean it's _falling_?" Cisco shouts back. "Barry!" The breach closes. Oh. Good. Len needed the dread of not knowing what that was about to sit with him for the rest of his life. He looks around slowly as he tries to grab a hold of his things better. It's still so strange to him how similar their Earths really are. 

Flash is suddenly on him. Len's heart jumps into his throat and he takes a precautionary step back as Flash comes to stand before him, his face an ominous blur. For a second, though, he doesn't do anything and it's impossible to know where he's looking. This only manages to ramp Len's anxiety up even more. Then he takes a step forward and Len has to stop himself from sprinting away. 

"I didn't do this," Len assures swiftly though he's sure if the Flash thought that, this situation would be going much differently. Flash doesn't reply but comes closer still and Len flinches his eyes closed at the expectation of having a hand in his chest or elsewhere.

But Flash doesn't do that, either. 

Hesitantly, Len peers an eye open to see what he's doing but Flash just lingers there, uncomfortably close. Then he backs away- a little, at least. Sure enough, he goes through all of Len's things and seemingly comes away none the wiser of anything fishy going on and puts everything back more or less as it was. 

"Where have you been?" Flash finally asks and his altered voice makes Len shudder. "You've been missing an entire week." 

"I- I'm not really sure," Len says. "I- a meta opened these- _things_ and I ended up in one and everything after that is a blur." 

"What meta?" Flash asks. He really, really hopes it wasn't their Cisco. 

"I never saw them. At least, I don't remember seeing them," Len replies. "I- everything's really foggy. Has it really been a week? I need to sit down." Flash grabs his face and Len flinches back so hard, he nearly trips. The only reason he doesn't is thanks to Flash tightly gripping his jaw. Len trembles. 

"Are you a meta?" Flash asks. 

" _No_ ," Len replies firmly. Flash stares at him for a long time. Then, without warning, Len is sitting on a nearby bench with all his things piled next to him. He sighs a breath of relief, having expected the Flash to have gone. He hasn't. 

"Are you alright?" Flash asks. Len jumps a little and twists towards him. He just tilts his head questioningly, standing a few feet away and watching. 

"I- yeah, I'm fine. I think. Just, confused and dizzy," he says. "And a little nauseous actually." He'd been too alarmed the first time he passed through the breach to really notice but the travel is disorientating. 

"You should check in with Star Labs," the Flash says. "They'll make sure there's nothing wrong with you. Until we know what meta did this, we don't know the extent of the damage they could have done." 

"Right. Okay," Len agrees. 

"Tomorrow," Flash aasures. "Check in with your partner and sister. They're worried about you." Then he's gone. Len looks around to make sure this time. That was- weird? He isn't fully sure what that was all about. He may have not had a ton of personal run ins with the Flash before but that seemed pretty uncharacteristic for him. He has a brief, very panicked thought that maybe Flash really isn't as bad as he thought before he remembers Allen is a very good manipulator and abuser and he's _supposed_ to feel that way. 

His phone vibrates suddenly and Len jumps more violently. He holds a hand over his chest as he tries to calm himself and fishes his phone out of his pocket. All the messages and calls he should have gotten over the last week flood in at once and he's quickly too overwhelmed by them all to really go through them right now. 

Instead, he just calls Lisa who, as it turns out, is already with Mick not to Len's surprise. Talking to them, even a little bit like this, easily reminds him why he needed to come back and more importantly, why he needs to find a way to stop Flash.

He heads home to his shared apartment with Mick shortly after and tells them the same thing he told Flash. Until he knows what to expect, he can't put them in any danger telling them the truth. He knows they'll understand. 

X

Walking into Star Labs gives Len uncomfortable goosebumps. It feels just like Earth 1 except with the lingering sense of terrible, terrible dread. He wonders if that's just him or if it's an honest feeling thanks to all the murder that happens here. If he's being honest, he no longer wants to work on their basement prison but he doubts that's going to fly. It's also his best opportunity to get close to Cisco. 

"Mr. Snart," Wells says, looking at him with interest. "You're back." 

"I am," Len agrees. It's odd seeing him in a wheelchair again especially knowing he's not actually paralyzed. Probably. There is still a chance he's _actually_ Harrison Wells. Not a _good_ chance but a chance. Just like there’s a chance his Flash _isn’t_ Barry. 

"They said you went missing. Are you okay?" he inquires. 

"I'm actually here to find out," Len replies. "Flash told me to come get checked out to make sure whatever meta opened those portals didn't give me any side effects." 

"I see," Wells murmurs. "You went in one of the portals? Where did it take you?" It's not very noticeable, in fact Len wouldn't have noticed at all if he weren't looking for it, but Wells' voice changes. If Wells is Eobard Thawne though? Len has to remember he's just as, if not more, dangerous than Flash. 

"I don't remember," Len admits. "The last week is all- blurry." 

"Blurry," Wells repeats. "I suppose that would warrant a check, yes. Follow." He doesn’t sound convinced but, all the same, Len follows him back down into the lab. Cisco perks up immediately and after a small look around, Len doesn’t see Barry yet. 

“Len? Whoa, are you okay?” he asks. “You disappeared off the face of the Earth, dude. Everyone’s been looking for you.” 

“I’m fine,” Len assures again. 

“Flash would like us to make sure,” Wells says. “Mr. Snart here, apparently, was in one of those portals.” Cisco’s eyes seem to sparkle at that little bit of information. He quickly follows along into the medbay. Len looks around more obviously when he doesn’t see Caitlin anywhere while Wells and Cisco seem to be preparing to do the testing themselves. 

“Those things were only open for a split second so we didn’t get _any_ data on them,” Cisco explains. “And they haven’t opened again since. Well- except to drop you back off, I guess. Some other people went missing around the same time but we haven’t been able to locate them, either. Do you know where they are?” As far as Len is aware, Barry and his team didn’t find anyone else from his Earth on theirs. It’s a terrifying thought that each of those portals lead to completely different Earths. 

But there are more terrifying thoughts as to what happened to them. More so now than ever, Len isn’t convinced Earth 1’s Cisco ‘sneezed’ those things open. 

“He doesn’t remember anything from after he entered the portal,” Wells informs. “Make sure we run a scan on his cerebral cortex when checking for dark matter.” 

“Right,” Cisco agrees curtly. Len watches them both fuss around the medbay and more he realises they just seem to be doing this now. None of Caitlin’s things or organization is here anymore. He also can’t help but notice how intensely Wells looks at him the entire time and it’s hard not to flinch. Going from this Wells to Harry, the differences seemed nominal but the other way around? This man is so clearly _not_ Harry, Len suddenly understands why Harry had tried to avoid him so much. 

“Where is Dr. Snow?” he asks. “This seems more like her thing.” Cisco freezes suddenly and sheer dread forms in Len’s heart. Did she manifest while he was gone? That would have been _years_ too early. 

“She, uh, she’s not here, anymore,” Cisco murmurs. “Just me and Dr. Wells now! Well, and Barry sometimes but he’s not really- he just likes hanging out, you know?” Len side eyes Wells as he looks a little too hard at the needle marks already in the crook of his elbow where Caitlin had taken his blood on the other earth. He doesn’t say anything as he takes a sample of his own but stares up at Len with unwavering coldness. 

“I’m- I’m sorry for your loss,” Len offers quietly. Cisco looks startled. 

“No!” he says at once. “No, no, I know how that sounded, no. She’s still alive!” Relief washes over Len knowing his inaction hasn’t already gotten her killed. He’ll have to be careful. “Her fiance turned out to be a meta and Flash- They decided it was time they started a life somewhere else.” 

“I see. That’s good for them, then,” he says. Cisco smiles. 

“Yeah, they’re doing well, actually. They found some people to help them,” he promises. Perhaps it’s for the best she’s not around right now. That’s one less person they have to worry about if things start going bad which they undoubtedly will. Wells and Cisco continue to run their tests. Len isn’t fully sure what they’re going to find or even what they’re looking for but he lets them work. Barry eventually joins them. 

“Snart? You’re back?” he says in puzzlement. “They filed a missing person’s report on you?” He’s- uncomfortably good at this. Good enough that for a split second, Len wonders what proof he actually has that Allen is, in fact, his Flash. 

“I- had a run in with a meta,” Len explains again. It’s a simple lie to maintain and, fortunately or otherwise, Len is very good at lying. The more he says it, the easier it gets to convince other people of it. Cisco gestures for Barry to look at some results with him and he curiously does. Once Barry’s in the room, Wells’ undivided attention is off of Len. It’s hard not to notice how much Wells stares and _consumes_ Barry. Len had noticed it a little before but he had brushed it off as Wells just being that way. 

“The dark matter in his system is in line with what we would expect from an encounter like this,” Cisco explains. Barry glances at Len and Len looks back at him questioningly. Barry smiles. Len awkwardly smiles back. “Doesn’t look like it kick started anything in his system, either. Still not a meta. Thank god.” 

Thank god, indeed. 

Len looks back at Wells and suddenly, Wells seems to realise he’s being observed. He narrows his eyes at Len suspiciously and a shudder goes up Len’s back before he quickly decides to also focus on Barry and Cisco. Definitely not Harrison Wells. So there’s two terrible murderers here with nearly unstoppable power. That’s good. That’s good to know. 

“Nothing out of the ordinary with his brain scans, either,” Cisco goes on. “I don’t know why he isn’t remembering anything. That being said, we still don’t know who did this to him so we really don’t know what we’re looking for.” 

“You don’t remember what happened?” Barry asks softly. Len knows he’s fishing for information he didn’t get as the Flash but knowing his identity now just makes this entire situation so- threatening. He shakes his head. 

“Sorry,” he offers. 

“That’s going to be difficult to file a report on,” Barry murmurs. “It might not be a meta’s doing, either. At least, not so directly. People having been suddenly subjected to intense and harrowing events have shown short term memory loss before. We get them a lot when it comes to taking statements on meta attacks.” 

“Maybe it’ll come back to you then?” Cisco suggests. Len smiles mutely. 

“Maybe,” he agrees. Needless to say, Wells does not look convinced. “If you don’t mind, though, right now I’d really just like to put this behind me. I’ve lost a week of my life and my work. Getting back to it is my main priority.” 

“Of course,” Barry says with a small nod. “I'll need to take you down to CCPD since your sister filed a missing person’s report so there’s paperwork to complete and you’ll need to prove your identity.” 

He is _a_ Len, he’s sure of that, at least. 

“The work here still needs to be completed, as well,” Wells reminds him. “Work that you have, I remind you, been paid for in advance. You are more than free to get back to it at your leisure.” That seems like less of an offer and more of a way to keep an eye on him for the unforeseeable future. Fortunately, that works in Len’s favor as well. 

“I will,” he assures. “I’m a man of my word, Dr. Wells, and meta-based circumstances withholding, I do plan on finishing my work here.” Wells smiles at him but it’s sour in a way Harry’s smile never is. 

“You should bring Mr. Rory in as well,” Barry suggests. Len’s heart quickens but he plays it off with a smile. 

“Why would I do that? This is a very sensitive project, after all, and not exactly requiring of his expertise,” he promises. 

“Actually, we’re turning out to have to do quite a bit of electrical work,” Cisco offers. “His help would be nice and, I mean, Rory doesn’t exactly seem like the kind to talk very much, anyways. I doubt we need to worry about him spilling secrets somewhere.” 

“Excellent idea,” Wells agrees.

“I’m sure he’s busy with his own projects,” Len insists with a shake of the head. 

“He’s not,” Barry promises ominously. That’s really all the warning Len needs to play ball or else. 

“I- I’ll check with him,” Len murmurs. “He has been curious as to what’s in this place, anyways.” So Caitlin’s somewhere safe and now he has to put Mick directly in harm’s way. At least there’s no way for them to argue his sister’s presence here. 

“Good,” Barry says with a smile. “How about some fresh air? I’ll walk you over to CCPD so we can close up your missing person’s case.” 

“That- yeah, that sounds nice,” Len agrees as he climbs down from the bed. Right now, he just wants to be away from Wells, anyways. Barry is definitely acting stranger than usual towards him but he remembers, with startling clarity, Earth 1’s Barry warning him about Wells’ potential to be Eobard Thawne. And more specifically, how easily Eobard Thawne can and will kill him if he suspects even for a moment Len might be a threat to his identity. 

Barry warned him that Eobard isn’t an ally but, Len wonders, how effectively he can turn Barry on him and kill two birds with one two. 

Wound. Wound two birds with one stone. 

Len leaves the lab with Barry. 

“I spoke to Rory and your sister Lisa," he says as they walk. "They've been worried about you. They’re also very, very protective of you. Your sister almost gave me a black eye.” He laughs and Len can’t help but laugh a little, too. That sounds like Lisa, yeah. Mick might be big and standoffish sometimes but he’s rarely quick to come to blows. 

“Sorry about that,” Len replies. “She’s feisty when she wants to be.” 

“Is there a time she doesn’t want to be?” Barry asks in amusement. 

“I don’t think so, no,” he assures. They laugh a little more. 

“I’m glad you made it home in one piece,” Barry says. “Missing person’s cases don’t always turn out so well after this much time. If you ever do remember anything, be sure to let me know. Whatever happened to you, we want to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.” 

“Right. I will,” Len agrees. It’s hard not to wonder in moments like these if there really is some resemblence of good in Barry buried somewhere deep. He does think he’s doing a good thing, though, doesn’t he? Len knows he does. They head into the CCPD and upon seeing him, Thawne immediately lights up. 

“Leonard Snart? You found him? _Alive_?” he asks. 

“I didn’t so much find him as he just showed back up,” Barry assures. “He walked into Star Labs today. Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember what happened but he’s otherwise fine.” 

“That’s amazing,” Thawne murmurs. He offers his hand and Len takes it politely. “We’re glad to see you in one piece, Mr. Snart. With everything happening nowadays, we were expecting the worst. I’ll take it from here, Barry.” Barry smiles but it’s far less friendly than the ones he’s shared with Len so far. It’s palpable how much Barry doesn’t like Thawne. Does he already know about Eobard? Or is he sour about Thawne’s efforts against the Flash? 

“Sure,” Barry finally says. “I’m not going to complain if _you_ want to do all the paperwork.” 

“This won’t take long, Mr. Snart. I’m sure you’d like to get back home,” Thawne assures. Len nods but as he goes to follow Thawne to his desk, Barry grabs his arm. It’s not rough but it catches him off guard and he jumps. If Barry notices, he doesn’t mention it. 

“If he gives you any problems, just let me know,” he says quietly. Len swallows. “I’ll see you tomorrow at the labs?” 

“Yeah,” Len agrees with a small nod. “Thank you, Barry. You’ve been a lot of help.” 

“Anything for you,” Barry assures. 

Why does that feel more looming than anything else? 


	6. Chapter 6

Barry looks over Len's results again. He's mostly interested in the dark matter but, ultimately, even there nothing stands out. There's nothing to suggest he's a meta at all but Barry can't shake the feeling that Len has come back different somehow. The memory loss definitely raises some suspicious questions but as of right now, that does seem to be attributed more to extreme stress. Annoying but not exactly damning. 

Which is good, of course. He doesn't _want_ Len to be a meta.

"Barry?" Cisco questions as he comes to join him in the medbay. "What are you doing?" 

"We're sure he's not a meta?" Barry asks, raising the papers he's looking at slightly. 

"Len? Pretty sure, yeah," Cisco promises. "It's possible that he simply hasn't 'emerged' yet, I guess, but with this much dark matter in his system right now, it's more likely that would have kicked it into starting if that were the case. I seriously doubt he's ever going to be a meta." That's good to hear.

"How long until this residual dark matter fades?" Barry asks. Cisco shrugs somewhat thoughtfully. 

"About a week? Since it was a portal, he got a pretty good dosage of it all over when he passed through," he explains. "But dark matter tends to gravitate towards more active dark matter so as long as he's not going through anymore portals and as long as he isn't actually a meta, it should disperse pretty quickly." 

"Test him again in a week," Barry says and Cisco nods in agreement. 

"You think he's hiding something?" he asks. That's not quite it, no. It's difficult for him to articulate exactly what the problem is- or rather, the problem being that there isn't strictly a _problem_ at all. In fact, it's the opposite. 

"Maybe," Barry says, bringing Len's scarf to his face to take another deep breath from it. Cisco looks at him with some uncertainty. "What happened to Len wasn't an accident. Whatever meta did this did it for a reason and we need to find them before they become a problem." 

"Yeah," Cisco murmurs. "You're right. For now, I'm just glad he's back in one piece, yeah?" Barry folds the scarf back up and puts it back into the sealed bag. He looks at it quietly for a few moments, Len's name written across the white label. It's not a _scent_ , not exactly, and the fact that he can't place what it actually is drives him absolutely _insane_.

"Barry?" Cisco says. Barry looks at him questioningly and Cisco leans in to give him a soft kiss. He smiles back. Len enters the lab with Rory and Cisco looks back at them. "Dinner later?" he asks as he backs away, obviously to go handle things. Barry stares at Len and after a few seconds, Len looks in his direction and smiles sheepishly. 

"Maybe some other time, Cisco," Barry says. "I'm afraid I have things to do tonight." 

"Oh. Yeah, okay," he agrees. "Just let me know?" 

"I will," he promises. Cisco gives him an odd look but brushes it off as Len leads Rory into the room with them. Barry tucks the bag under his arm and Len gives it a curious look but otherwise doesn't seem to notice. 

"Cisco, this is my partner, Mick Rory," Len introduces. "Mick, this is Cisco Ramon. You and Barry know each other already, of course." Rory shakes Cisco's hand politely before giving Barry an approving nod.

"Thanks for finding Snart," he says. 

"I wish I had but he just kind of showed up again," Barry assures. "No need to thank me for something I didn't do." 

"Still, you looked into it for us," Rory insists. "More than anyone else at that worthless CCPD did." He huffs in annoyment and Barry smiles a little. 

"Just doing my job," he promises. Rory grunts. 

"Here, I have some papers for you to sign," Cisco says. Barry watches as they head into the cortex where Rory sits with his glasses and actually reads the disclosure agreement. Len looks in his direction and softly smiles again and Barry returns a friendly grin. The look Len gives Wells as he comes through, however, is far more weary. Ever since he's been back Len seems to have taken a distrust to Wells, too. 

Barry has to wonder why, doesn't he. 

Wells comes to his side and, for a moment, watches Cisco and Mick and Len as well. Cisco and Len seem to be getting close fast which Barry wasn't sure of before but now is glad isn't going to be a problem. He doesn't foresee any issues with Mick being around. 

"You know we can't trust Snart, right?" Wells says. 

"Do I?" Barry replies. 

"We have no idea what happened to him. You've made a lot of enemies, Barry, and if he doesn't remember what happened, he may as well be a spy- or worse," Wells scoffs. Barry laughs. 

"No," he murmurs. "He's not. I don't know what happened to him, no, but- he smells like you and Cisco now." Wells arches a brow at him. "Not a scent, I guess. Not a _feeling_ , either. It's hard to explain but it's definitely connected to my speed somehow." 

"Dare I ask what that 'scent' smells like?" Wells asks. Barry muses on it for a moment as he watches Cisco finally lead Len and Mick down to the pipeline. 

"Mine," he says. 

Wells doesn't say anything. 

X

Len looks at his notes quietly as he thinks. He knows where the time vault is and if he can somehow discreetly direct Barry to it, that might be enough to tip his already suspicious feelings towards Wells into the deep end. That being said, if he's not careful, Len will also have to explain why he knows that was there. It's not on any of the blueprints but maybe he can add it in? 

Play it off as an original blueprint having gotten loose if asked. 

Barry shifts behind him and Len has to stop himself from jumping. He didn't use to do any of his work at Star Labs in the cortex before but since being back, clearly both Barry and Wells want him where they can see him. It's hard to argue with both of them. The contacts and invisible ink Cisco made for him work so well, it's easy to forget no one else can see what he sees. 

Mick works diligently beside him on another component. 

"Uh, hey guys," Cisco says suddenly and he turns the tv on.

"This young man calling himself the 'new Trickster' is currently dropping _bombs_ on Central City," the news reporter says. The video repeats the same few seconds of a present floating down from the sky, touching the ground, and exploding in a large, fiery cloud. There's dozens of them in the background alone. 

"Police are warning people to avoid the area until this terrorist is apprehended." Below the video is a picture, clearly taken from a self made video, of said terrorist. Len drops his pen.

"Axel?" he says. 

"Whoa, wait," Cisco says urgently. "Back up. You _know_ this kid?" 

"That's James Jesse's kid," Len explains. "He- he must be off his meds." 

"Uh, he's about to kill a whole bunch of people," Cisco assures. "If that's what happens when he doesn't take his meds, yeah, I think that's a safe bet." 

"He's never hurt anyone before," Len insists. Did something happen to Zoey? She didn't end up a meta, did she? Did he? Why would he be doing something like this now? Surely he understands how dangerous the Flash is. 

"Clearly things change," Wells murmurs. 

"The police will shoot him down soon, don't worry," Barry promises nonchalantly. "Though I'm not sure how they think they're getting those bombs down without killing anyone else. That should be funny." Len's heart stops.

"You don't think the Flash is going to go help?" Cisco asks pointedly. Barry tosses some more m&ms in his mouth. 

"Is Axel a meta?" he asks. 

"There's no dark matter readings for the area," Wells assures. "It's unlikely." 

"Then probably not," Barry says. "The police are on scene already, anyways." Cisco gives Barry a stressed look but he obviously knows better than to so obviously reveal Barry's identity to him and Mick.

"Not like the police ever do anything useful," Mick scoffs and continues his work, same as ever. Len isn't as nonchalant. He can't believe this. Zoey and her son had been doing so well the last time he'd seen them? Axel must have been speaking to his idiot father, that's the only excuse Len can think of for anything like this. If Jesse convinced him to go off his meds, it would have been easy to tempt him into just about anything. That boy always did idolize his father way too much to be healthy. 

"He is going to destroy a big chunk of Central City," Cisco says, clearly trying to goad Barry into doing something. Barry still looks soundly disinterested. Axel clearly isn't doing enough damage to warrant the Flash caring. 

"Mick, will you go call my sister for me?" Len asks quietly. Mick gives him a questioning look. "I'm going to call Iris and make sure she's okay. I know she likes getting in the middle of chaos." Sensing Len wants him out of the room, Mick grouchily puts his work down and stretches before taking the elevator up. This has got to be Len's dumbest idea so far but if he's right about Barry, this may be his only way to save the situation. 

He has to steel himself as he turns to face Barry who, sure enough, is far from bothered by anything going on. 

"I know you're the Flash," Len says firmly. Barry doesn't seem to acknowledge him at first but Cisco and Wells both look surprised at the sudden, _bold_ declaration. Barry munches some more. "Barry. _Please_." 

Barry looks at him. 

"Oh what? Me?" he replies in amusement. 

"Barry," Cisco urges quietly but firm. "Come on." 

"I'm afraid Mr. Snart is smarter than we give him credit for," Wells agrees. "He's obviously figured it out. I don't think trying to convince him otherwise is going to work this time." Barry looks between the two of them before looking back at Len. He gets to his feet slowly and Len winces as he expects the worst.

As he thought, though, Barry doesn't seem to want to hurt him. 

"Wait," Len says quickly. Barry arches a brow at him. "Axel _isn't_ a meta. And he's just a kid. Don't kill him. Please. For me." He knows he's pressing his luck but he has to try. If he doesn't do anything, Barry's right; the police will likely kill him instead. Barry looks past him at the tv again and needless to say, it isn't exactly painting a pretty picture of Axel at the moment. He looks back at Len. 

"Alright," he agrees and Len sighs in relief. "But you're going to do something for me." As much as Len immediately wants to back track, he can't. He's not even sure Axel is eighteen yet. Anything that stops Barry from _killing_ him, he's willing. It surely can't be that bad. 

"Anything," Len agrees. 

"Tell me how you found out I'm the Flash," Barry says. That's it? 

"Yeah, I can do that," he assures. Barry doesn't move. Len panics. " _Now_? You mean right now?" He turns back to the television urgently but the news doesn't give him a ton of information about what's _currently_ happening, just that _something's_ in progress. Barry's putting him on the spot to catch him in a lie. 

"Singh may be soft but once swat's in place, he'll have them take the shot," Barry comments offhandedly. 

"I found your suit," Len says hastily. "Wells is paralyzed and I've seen the Flash and Cisco in person simultaneously. There's a reason you hang around Star Labs and I assumed from the start it was to research the dark matter in your system. You're a meta- you're the Flash." Barry laughs. 

"You were snooping?" he asks. 

"When the layout of your building looks like it was built by a frantic madman? I couldn't help myself," Len confesses, which is true, at least. "Obviously I didn't say anything because I don't have _any_ interest in getting on the Flash's bad side. I just wanted to forget about it." 

"Okay," Barry says and he nods in satisfaction. That felt easy but Len isn't questioning it right now. He doesn't know why but this Barry seems to have taken more of a liking to him since he's been back. In an instant, Barry's in his suit and Len can breathe easy. He watches as Barry stands beside Cisco and the closeness alone rightfully fills Cisco with fear. "We'll talk about this later." 

Then he's gone and everyone sighs. 

"I'm sorry," Len blurts out. Cisco lets out a stressed laugh. 

"It's okay," he promises. "I'm sure you noticed he's a little protective of his identity. He'll- he'll calm down." Len doesn't think that's true mostly because Barry already seemed pretty calm. He currently doesn't have the energy to acknowledge the look Wells gives him. 

"Can we see what's going on?" Len asks tightly. 

"I'll see if I can pull up some camera feed in the area," Cisco assures. Len tries not to bite his finger off while he waits for something to show up. After a few moments of Cisco tapping around, and Wells guiding him along to go quicker, some video pops up. A few flick by before Cisco sets the main screen on the best view of Axel. The others just get varying views of the street. As bad as the quality is, Flash doesn't show up on them while he's moving. 

What they do see is suddenly every cop in the area haul ass away from their own road blocks as soon as it's clear Flash is on site. A few seconds later, Flash appears in the middle of the street and curiously looks up to the bombs still peacefully floating around. After a couple thoughtful moments, he's gone again. One by one, the bombs disappear and Axel peers down over the edge of his roof with a pout. He does a little dance that's definitely more than a little unhinged, and uncomfortably like his father, and pulls something out of his pocket. 

Flash appears on the roof with him. Len legitimately has no idea if Barry's going to keep his word and it stresses him out beyond belief. 

"Lis is fine," Mick mutters as he wanders back into the cortex. Just the same, he's immediately stopped dead by events unfolding on the screens. "Oh _shit_." 

"Can't get audio," Cisco murmurs. "These things are so out of date, I swear." They must be talking for Barry to not have grabbed him already. Axel throws whatever it is he's holding at Barry and is alarmed when Barry actually catches it. A net explodes out but Barry has such a grip on it, it fails spectacularly to do anything useful. Likewise, the apparent shocking nature of it is negligible to him. Axel shimmies nervously as he looks for an escape. 

One is provided for him. The swat team they've sent in clearly is more than just snipers, something Barry finds out the hard way. He's faster than a bullet, they know this as a sound fact, but the surprise shotgun blast hits him dead on in the back. 

Out the corner of his eye, Len sees Wells move a leg- something paralyzed men don't do. 

"Barry!" Cisco yelps, jumping to his feet urgently. Axel books it, hopping over the building's edge and disappearing _somewhere_. Len can't help but wonder if Barry didn't move for a reason; if he had, Axel likely would have taken the brunt of that shot. He's thrown to his hands and knees by the force but, thankfully, still seems to be alive. It might not be well known but the Flash isn't indestructible; he can still get hurt and it still hurts when he does. He is a bit more resilient than most, though, and his healing factor kicks in instantly. 

Barry stays down as the rest of the swat team surrounds him. Of course they'd rather have Flash than _anyone_ else so it's not surprising they're not pursuing Axel, instead. They take too long to actually do anything to subdue him and honestly, Len isn't sure if they even _could_. When Barry refuses to cooperate with whatever orders they're barking, someone fires another shot but by then, it's too late to save the situation. What was once Barry, is now one of their own, and the man takes the blast full on in his vest. Len can't tell if that's lethal or not but at the very least, he's not moving now. The swat team panics. 

Needless to say, Barry isn't very happy about being _shot_. He aggros on the guilty party and the next thing they see is him with his hand in the man's chest. Usually when Barry does this, people simply drop dead. Len isn't fully sure what causes it but he assumes it's mass hemorrhaging of the heart, or if he's feeling it, the brain. It's clean, quick, and apparently painless. What generally doesn't happen is Barry pulls a person's entire heart out of their chest. The man drops and he looks at the heart before tossing it to the floor with disinterest. 

Barry makes short work of the rest of the team. While he doesn't seem to kill them, Len isn't sure that's any better. He leaves them in a grotesque mess of broken bones and twisted limbs, a scene they get to watch like skipping pages of a flipbook. When he's sated with making his point, Barry stops briefly in the middle of the roof. His form blurs but he can't phase and it clearly causes him physical pain. Then he's gone again. 

"He's coming back," Wells warns. Cisco immediately sprints to the medbay and Len makes short work of getting out of the way. Mick takes the hint, evacuating the middle of the room in time for Barry to return to a clear landing. He stumbles when he stops and grips onto the console to keep himself upright. 

He's soaked in blood- _most_ of it his own. 

"Cisco-" Barry rasps, finally collapsing to his knees. 

"I'm here!" Cisco assures swiftly, returning with a first aid kit. He touches Barry softly and examines his back for the damage. The problem is, there is none. "Hold on, buddy, I got you. If you lay down in the-" 

" _Now Cisco_!" Barry barks at him. Cisco jolts but he doesn't need to be told twice. Len isn't sure what he should be doing, if anything, so he just stands and stares as Cisco gets to work. Barry holds himself up against the side of the console and Cisco sits behind him with a pair of shears to cut the back of his suit open. Then he takes a scalpel and just goes to work. 

Len winces empathetically. He knows Barry can still feel that and he knows he can't be given anesthesia thanks to his body burning it up too quickly. Barry just has to sit there and grit his teeth as Cisco cuts into his back, holds the wound open, and pries each and every buckshot out individually. At least Cisco seems to know what he's doing.

"Find Axel," Barry instructs shortly. 

"He doesn't have a dark matter signature," Wells reminds him. "If you have any suggestions on how to go about doing that, I'm all ears." Barry hits the console so hard, the whole thing vibrates enough to form hairline cracks. Mick takes a step back and Len follows suit. "Throwing a tantrum isn't helping." 

The look Barry gives Wells is so purely hateful, Len wonders if he'll even need to do anything or if Barry is just going to kill him right now. 

"Barry," Cisco says quietly. "Stay still, please." Barry narrows his eyes at Wells in what is clearly a threat before relaxing again and resting his head against the console to let Cisco keep working. Cisco's hands and arms are soaked in blood and it's slow work but by all the sharpnel laying around him, he's doing a good job. Hard to do a bad job with a speedster, Len guesses. 

"We could talk to his father," Len suggests. "Jesse is still in Iron Heights lock up. This whole thing reeks of his doing. Axel was a troubled kid but he'd never do anything like this without someone pulling his strings." 

"I'll call Thawne," Barry says, his breathing beginning to even out again. "You're coming with us, Len." 

"I- don't think that's a good idea," Len argues. "Jesse _hates_ me." 

"But Thawne doesn't," Barry replies. "You're going to keep him distracted." Len doesn't like Jesse, that goes without saying, but even he's having a hard time finding it in himself to be alright with letting Flash at him. He really should have seen this coming when he made it known he knew Barry's identity. Now he's just as much of an accomplice as anyone else here. 

"Okay," Len agrees. "Sure. If it helps Axel. If we can locate his mother, she might be able to tell us more, too. Zoey Clark?" He really, really hopes she isn't a meta. 

"I'll see what I can do," Cisco assures, giving a faint nod but staying focused on Barry's back. "If she's not in hiding, we should be able to track her down." 

"Good," Barry says. "Mr. Rory." Mick jerks. "Welcome back. I'm the Flash and if you tell anyone I'll vibrate every bone in your body to dust. Do you need to sign anything about that?" 

"No," Mick says curtly. "I got it." 

"Find out who made this," Barry instructs, throwing the knotted net onto the floor. "I soaked up most of the charge but touch it at your own risk. I want to know where he got the components for his bombs, too. Find where he's making these and we find him." 

"I'll need one of the bombs," Mick notes. He's always been good at rolling with the punches. Len's glad for that, at least.

"Consider it done," Barry replies. "Cisco-" 

"I've gotten out what I can find," he assures. He moves back to give Barry some room to sit back and relax his back. "Buckshot can have a lot of tiny fragments, though. We'll need to scan you to find the rest." 

"No. I can phase out the rest," Barry says. "Thank you." 

"Oh. I-" Cisco begins. Barry pulls him closer and kisses him and Cisco flusters nervously. After a moment, he sheepishly kisses back and it would be cute if they weren't both soaked in blood. Cisco clears his throat. "Yeah. Course, Barry. I'm just glad you're okay." 

There's not a dead man and six permanently disfigured swat guys or anything. 

"You should rest a little, though," Cisco encourages. "I need to fix your suit, anyways." Barry nods. 

"I'm going to grab some food and go talk to Thawne," he says, slowly getting to his feet. He still limps a little when he walks but it won't be for long. "Come help me get out of this?" Cisco turns bright red but follows him out. Wells watches them go with far too much interest. 

"What the fuck did you get us into, Snart?" Mick asks quietly. 

"Welcome to the Flash family?" Len replies. He has a lot to explain later but in Star Labs definitely isn't the time or place. 

At least Mick seems to inherently know that. 

X

"Mr. Snart," Eddie greets him with a smile and a handshake. Len accepts it politely and tries not to show his nerves off too much. "Barry says you might be able to get Jesse to talk to us about his son?" 

"I believe so, yes," Len lies. He's actually pretty sure Jesse would rather seem him rolling in a grave if he's honest. Barry none too discreetly puts himself between Eddie and Len. Eddie clearly pretends not to notice. 

"How do you know the Trickster, anyways?" Eddie asks as he collects his stuff so they can leave. Len hesitates. 

"I actually did some time in jail when I was younger," he confesses. "Fortunately they were lenient on me due to the circumstances and I got out on good behavior. That's where I met my partner, Mick, actually, and we decided we didn't want that kind of life for ourselves and we worked together to get where we are now." 

"Aw, that's really sweet," Eddie hums pleasantly. Barry seems more fed up with Eddie than anything else but he gives Len a smile when Len looks at him. 

"We ran with some others while we were in there, though. Mardon, Bivolo, Dillion, Scudder, and Jesse," he explains. "They were- not as interested in recovery." 

"Well hopefully we can get something out of Jesse. It's a good thing you recognised Axel on the news," Eddie assures as they make their way out. "If Flash is after him, too, we need to find him first before he gets hurt." 

"Right," Len murmurs. He still isn't sure if Barry _is_ going to go against his word and hurt Axel. There's no reason he should, Axel isn't a meta, but after all these problems, Len really doesn't know. He still isn't sure if Barry was legitimately caught off guard or if he took that blast so Axel wouldn't nor is he sure which is more unbelievable. 

Len doesn't particularly like riding in the back of a cop car but he doesn't complain. 

"Oh, but the good news is, we now know we _can_ hurt the Flash," Eddie says cheerfully. Len kind of sees why Barry seems to loathe him with every fiber of his being. He hasn't had a problem with Eddie any of the other rare times they spoke and it's definitely obvious he and Barry have history, but Len can also see why it was Eddie that got dragged out of the CCPD and beat. 

"He's likely healed by now," Len comments. "He's been injured before." Barry doesn't react and remains largely uninterested in the conversation. 

"True, but mostly by other metas," Eddie says. "We've never been able to hit him with bullets before." 

"I- wouldn't count on being able to do it again, either," Len replies. "Especially considering what happened afterwards." 

"Yeah," Eddie murmurs solemnly. "Those guys have been in ICU for a couple hours now but it looks like they're going to pull through. Aside from- yeah." Len super didn't want to remember the image of Barry holding a man's entire heart. 

"Any ideas why Flash showed up, anyways?" Barry asks. 

"We think Walker might be a meta," Eddie says. "The only other nonmetas who Flash has gone after before, went after him first. As far as we know, Walker wasn't targeting Flash." Surely Axel isn't that far gone. It's quite the rest of the ride. 

Len isn't excited to be back at the prison, either, or by the idea that he will have to see Jesse. He's not sure if Eddie is going to get suspicious when he finds out Jesse hates his guts but hopefully he can play that off. While Eddie speaks to the prison officers, Len stands aside with Barry. 

"Can I ask you something?" Len asks quietly. Barry looks at him curiously. 

"Sure," he agrees and it sounds so much like Earth 1 Barry, Len's wires end up crossed. "What's up?"

"Did you take that hit to protect Axel?" Len asks. 

"Yeah?" he replies in bemusement. "You made it pretty obvious you care about this kid for whatever reason. I figured if I grabbed him, he'd probably end up shocked on his own equipment and I wasn't sure if he could handle that kind of voltage." That's already more thought than Len had even put into it. He's not sure what to say. Barry really isn't going to hurt him, is he? Just because Len asked him not to? 

"You could have gotten seriously hurt, Barry," Len points out. Barry shrugs. 

"It was a calculated risk," he assures. Len doesn't understand Flash at all. "But you are going to have to decide what to do with him when we find him. He can't stay at the lab." 

"Of course," Len agrees. He certainly doesn't want that, anyways. "Would they give him the death penalty if we turned him over to CCPD?" 

"I doubt it," Barry murmurs. "His little stunt didn't have any casualties. I can talk to the DA; she's soft on kids. Between his shit father and being off his meds, we could probably get them to go easy on him." 

"I think that's our best bet, then," Len says. "Granted they keep him far, far away from his father in here." 

"Don't worry about Jesse," Barry assures. "He won't be talking to Axel again." Len doesn't know what that means, doesn't want to speculate, and definitely is glad he won't be in the room to witness it. 

"We should get some food after this," Barry says. "I'm hungry." 

"Yeah," Len agrees. "That sounds nice." 


	7. Chapter 7

Even with just a little contact with Jesse, Len is exhausted. He's so much even now- and that was tame all things considering. Len doesn't know what Barry said to him but he was a lot more cooperative than Len was expecting. Barry is terrifying out of the Flash costume just as much as he is in it. 

As bad as Len feels about brushing Eddie off so coldly, it's in everyone's best interest. Barry obviously doesn't like him and trying to make him be around Eddie anymore than strictly necessary is a recipe for disaster. Plus, if Len is going to try to recruit his help later, it's best if Barry wasn't already suspicious at them getting friendly. By the way Eddie acts, it definitely feels like he did something to warrant Barry's dislike and he knows it. 

Len needs to be careful about what he pries into. 

"Thanks for helping with that," Barry says once they're seated at a table. Len isn't really a 'diner' food kind of guy but it's nice in here and quiet enough that they can talk without being bothered. 

"I don't think I actually did anything," Len admits. "But you're welcome." 

"Better you deal with Thawne than me," Barry scoffs back. Maybe he could ask Iris what that's all about though he's going to have to be even more careful about talking to her now. He's not sure how much she'll say, anyways. She's so angry at him as both Barry Allen and the Flash that Len doubts she'll have an honest answer as to what happened back when they were kids and why Joe didn't take him. 

"He's- odd," Len admits. Barry snorts a laugh. 

"That's an understatement," he assures. "Okay, my turn to ask you a question." Inherently ominous but fair, Len supposes. He nods in agreement and reminds himself they're having a casual conversation right now. "Why do you care so much about this kid? Is he yours?" 

Len sputters before laughing. The idea of having a kid with Zoey, let alone the idea of the instigating action of that even happening, is beyond unfathomable. She's a nice enough lady now and she has been doing well lately but she and Jesse are the same cut of cloth through and through. Barry grins in amusement. 

"Absolutely not," Len promises. "There is no way that could even be a _possibility_. While I'm not solely into men, I do prefer them, and I assure you, Zoey is _not_ the exception there. And Jesse-" he shudders. "Not physically possible for more reasons than I do not now, nor have I ever, had any desire to have _any_ kind of physical contact with the man." 

"Fair enough," Barry replies with a laugh of his own. 

"It's just that- I know what it's like to have a dad like Jesse," Len admits. "Lewis was an awful man. He didn't do anything that wasn't for himself and coerced us into doing whatever we could for him. We were just things to him. Little circus monkeys that could hold wrenches." He scoffs bitterly and Barry gives him a bit of a frown. 

"When Zoey said she wanted to get better for Axel, I did what I could to help her," he assures. "I couldn't be the boy's father but I could at least make sure he had a mom that was there for him and they had a place to stay. I was making good enough money at the time and she was putting in an honest effort. Last I knew, Axel was getting letters from colleges. This really came out of the blue. It's- really sad to see him go the way of his father." 

Len can't help but think about his other earth doppleganger. 

"I see," Barry murmurs. "I'm sorry if I snapped earlier. I wasn't mad at you or Axel, just so you know." 

"After you'd been shot?" Len asks with faint amusement. "I think you were right to be a little angry in general. But thank you." Barry grins. 

Iris was insistent that there had to be something that would breathe some goodness into this Barry and Len knows somewhere, even if it's small, that there is goodness in him. Cisco might be too far gone, Len still isn't sure yet, but could it be him? Barry did go out of his way to make sure Axel didn't get hurt because Len asked him to. Len's dealt with his father's abuse for years; he knows the pitfalls and traps far too intimately to be comfortable. 

Is there really pulling Barry back from this? 

"What about your father?" Len asks. Barry's smile turns more sad and he sighs deeply. 

"He was framed for killing my mother and sent to prison. He was a good man," he assures. "He loved me and my mother very much and he didn't deserve what happened to him." 

"And that's why you became a CSI?" Len asks and Barry nods. 

"Yeah. It was. Even after my dad died in there, they said he did it. If I was owed anything, it was the truth and no one was going to hand that to me," he says. "Becoming a CSI felt like the only way that I'd ever get any closure."

"And did you?" he asks.

"Not yet," Barry murmurs. "I will. The man who killed my mother is still out there and he'll pay. As for West- he's on a thin string in the CCPD anyways." It's honestly surprising to Len that Barry doesn't just do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to. With his speed, he's more than capable of putting an end to Joe West's career whenever he feels like it, if not just straight up kill him. He definitely seems to hate Joe enough. 

"Why do you hate metas, Barry?" Len asks, a question that slips out more than he really thinks about it.

"I don't," Barry replies. 

"Then why- there are other ways to deal with them, you know," he urges. Barry barks a laugh. 

"You've been talking to Cisco," he says. "We're a mistake, Snart. A _dangerous_ mistake. Full stop." 

"Is it because a meta killed your mother?" Len asks softly. "And you don't want anyone to feel like you did?" Barry leans forward on the table, far too calm and relaxed for Len to be comfortable but far too threatening for Len to move, either. 

"No," he says. Len swallows. "A meta killed my mother and I want him to see me now and realise that not killing me too was the worst mistake of his life." 

X

Well. This might be the worst mistake of Eobard's life. He can't figure out if it's something wrong with Gideon or something wrong with time itself or something else all together. The timeline remains unchanged but that simply isn't possible. The way things are going now, there's no way they still accumulate into an appropriate crisis. A sheerly different crisis, sure, but not the same article it's always shown him.

More so, even if they _did_ by some means, Eobard still can't go home because his home doesn't _exist_ anymore. This isn't the Barry he knows and doesn't mold the future he's from. That means starting from scratch all over again. He has to go back, make sure Barry ends up in Joe West's care, and then keep a much closer eye on him. 

Who knew Barry was always so close to becoming so- like him. It's rather fascinating. 

Eobard legitimately jumps when he turns back to get in his wheelchair and Barry's there. Barry grins at him and it's immediately clear this isn't the current Barry. Bad. This is bad. Before Eobard can actually do anything, Barry grabs his neck roughly and pins him to the wall. 

"Hello Eobard," he greets. "You're going to do a favor for me." Eobard winces at the fingers that dig into his windpipe and moves to pry them off but Barry's grip is surprisingly steadfast. 

"And why would I do that?" he rasps back irritably. "You're not exactly making me want to do you any favors right now, Bartholomew." 

"Because if you don't, I'll drag you out there right now and tell them exactly who you are and what you've done," Barry assures. "And you can kiss your entire plan goodbye along with most of this timeline." 

Eobard wishes he could call Barry's bluff but as it turns out, Barry is so _serious_ , he can see the projected news article violently flickering as time warps by his very intent alone. 

"What do you want?" Eobard demands. Barry stares at him for a few seconds before he moves the hand on Eobard's neck up and digs his thumb and forefingers into the corners of his jaw. Searing white pain travels across his mouth and down his back like a dozen lightning bolts at once. Eobard changes his grip on Barry's arm and attempts to force him off more violently but the pain dazes him too much to follow through. His vision blurs before going white all together and he winces his eyes shut.

"What- are you doing?" he growls out. Then it stops and Eobard pants. 

"Consider that a payforward," Barry says. Initially it's easy to pass it off as a threat of further violence but once Eobard catches his breath he realises he's received quite an extensive boost to his speed. Barry _gave_ him some of his speed? Since when could Barry do _that_? _Why_ did Barry do that? Eobard narrows his eyes at him suspiciously as Barry releases him and he angrily primps himself back into order. He's handed a sheet of paper. 

"Translate this," Barry instructs. Eobard looks it over; it's time language and it's not in Eobard's handwriting. He's only recently cracked the code himself; where did Barry get this? Eobard looks back at him and Barry hands him a pen. The writing itself seems negligible but Eobard commits it to memory anyways. He turns the paper over and quickly writes on the back before giving it back. Barry reads it briefly only to hand it back again. 

"Why don't you try that again, Eobard," he says. "I'll pretend you didn't give me a fake translation and you can pretend I'll give you a third chance." 

"If you already know it, why exactly do you need me to translate?" Eobard replies dryly. "Oh, that's right, you love wasting everyone's time, don't you?" Barry puts a hand in his stomach. Urgently, Eobard grabs his wrist to try to cancel out his phase but needless to say, Barry hasn't returned enough of his speed to counter him. There's a pain in his back that quickly goes from an unpleasant sensation to Eobard shouting to- nothing. 

Eobard can't feel his legs. 

Unable to support himself, he drops to the ground when Barry takes his hand out. Barry paralyzed him. 

"That'll take, what, a week to heal? Maybe two with your slower rate," Barry says. "How long do you think it'll take if I start removing your spinal disks?" 

This is really, really bad. 

Eobard picks up the paper and pen again and this time, writes the correct translation on the back. He holds it up and Barry takes it, reading it over before humming contently and folding it to pocket. 

"Thanks, Eobard," he says. "I owe you one." Barry kicks his wheelchair over before leaving. Once he's gone, Eobard slouches back and breathes. Truly fascinating. Horribly, horribly fascinating. He feels one of his legs tentatively but there's no response. It's a good thing he's already pretending to be paralyzed. 

What could that have been about? More so, _when_ was that Barry from? 

"Gideon," Eobard snaps. "What's the timeline look like?" 

"Unchanged," Gideon replies, as usual. Eobard hits the side of her console angrily. 

"How can it be unchanged, Gideon!" he shouts. Then he stops and he closes his eyes. Because he's always been smarter than Barry. Eobard laughs. Because he _fixes_ this. Of course he does. He should have known he has nothing to worry about. 

How did Barry know when to seek him out to translate that?

X

"Good news and bad news!" Cisco chirps as he hops into the cortex. Mick throws down what he's working on with a growl and takes his glasses off. 

"I can never get any work done around here!" he says loudly. "It's always Flash problem this! Whiny long haired brat problem that!" Barry looks at him a moment before looking back to Cisco. 

"Bad news first," he says. 

"Bad news is; Axel broke Jesse out of Iron Heights," Cisco says. Len groans deeply and rubs his eyes with his fingers. Of course that's the bad news. He could have expected that from a thousand yards away. He knew Jesse was manipulating Axel. 

"Is the good news that we know where he is?" Barry asks. 

"Yes," Cisco agrees with a smile. 

"Are they doing something stupid?" he asks. 

"Also yes," Cisco says. "They're robbing a re-election fundraiser." 

"I'm gonna kill Jesse," Barry says. 

"Not in front of Axel, please," Len replies tiredly. 

"They're at City Hall," Cisco says as Barry changes into his newly fixed up suit. Len gives Mick a quiet side eye. He's pretty sure Iris is there tonight, too. While he hopes she'll be okay, of course, he knows that also means the CCPD are likely going to show up not far behind. This might turn into another altercation. The way Eddie was talking, it sounded like they were maybe getting a little ahead of themselves with being able to hurt Flash. 

Barry leaves. 

"Where is Dr. Wells?" Len asks curiously. 

"He wasn't feeling well," Cisco explains. "Sometimes he gets pretty bad phantom pains in his legs and he just kind of mopes around his house for a day or two." Mick gives Len a look of disbelief to which Len can really only agree. He's not sure what Wells takes those personal days for but it's definitely not that. 

"I see," Len murmurs. "You've known Wells a long time, haven't you? Has he always been- like this?" 

"Like- what?" Cisco asks back. 

"Mean," Mick says flatly. "Rude. Oafish." 

"He means standoffish," Len assures. 

"Oh. Yeah," Cisco agrees with a nod. "As long as I've known him, at least. I guess he wasn't like that before his wife died? That kind of thing changes a person, you know? I mean, look at Barry." He laughs awkwardly. Len arches a brow. 

"You knew Barry before his parents died?" he asks. 

"No but Iris did," Cisco explains. "They were actually really good friends. After Barry got shuffled around the system though, I guess he just got-" he trails off. 

"Cruel," Mick says.

"Mean?" Len offers. 

"Not what I was going for," Cisco assures mildly. "Look, I know he's rough around the edges but once you get to know him, he's really nice. If, uh, if he likes you. But he likes most people!" 

"He kills people," Mick reminds him. 

"Yeah, _bad_ people," Cisco replies. "And even then, it's not like he's going around just killing any regular ol' robbers or something. It's usually other metas. Pick on someone your own size, you know?" 

"I don't like cops as much as the next person, but don't think that swat guy that shot him was a bad meta," Mick points out. 

" _Okay_ , but the dude _shot_ _him_ ," Cisco argues. "He has some anger problems, I know, but snaps like that happen _maybe_ once in a blue moon. And no offense, but I think anyone would be pretty pissed if they got shot in the back at close range with a shotgun." 

"If they lived, sure," Len agrees. "It's not that we don't like Barry, Cisco, we just think calling him 'nice' is a little misleading." 

"Fine," Cisco scoffs. "Fair enough. _I_ think he's nice." 

"You don't think Dr. Wells seems a little bit weird about Barry, do you?" Len asks. Cisco looks at him oddly. 

"What do you mean?" he murmurs unsurely. 

"Like every time Barry's in the same room with him, he doesn't seem to be able to look anywhere else," Mick says. 

"It can be pretty unsettling sometimes," Len agrees. "Even if Barry would break every bone in his body if he tried anything, it does feel like Wells has some unsavory intentions towards him."

"No," Cisco assures but the humor behind it is uneasy. "Wells is kind of peculiar but not like that. Not that there would be anything wrong with that! They're both adults, you know. They can make their own decisions. It's not- what _are_ you suggesting, anyways?" Len shrugs vaguely. 

"Don't get your hair in knots, hippy," Mick grunts. "We ain't tryin' to ruffle your feathers, just saying, something ain't right about that man." 

"Dr. Wells is _fine_ ," Cisco replies curtly. "And Barry is fine! Where is this coming from all of a sudden?” 

“I’m just worried about Barry,” Len murmurs with a shrug. “We talked over lunch a bit the other day and he didn’t seem very happy with Wells about the incident with the swat team.” Cisco wrings his hands hesitantly. 

“You- had lunch? Together?” he asks. Len looks at him curiously. "No, I mean, I just- Barry hasn’t said anything to me about Wells. Why would he- tell you?” Uh oh. The last thing Len needs is to end up driving a wedge between him and Cisco over Barry’s affections. As good as he is at lying, the less he needs to do it, the better, but at this point, that’s not an option if he doesn’t want this to blow up in his face. 

“You’ve known Wells a long time, Cisco,” he urges softly. “Barry wouldn’t want to come between you two over something so minor, right?” 

“Right,” Cisco says slowly and he thumbs something under his shirt where a necklace would hang. “Right, I- he hasn’t, like, said anything to you? About us? Has he?” 

“About you and him?” Len clarifies. He shakes his head. “No. Is something wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong,” Cisco says too quick to be the total truth. “He just keeps- brushing me off for stuff. He was doing pretty good about not needing to do everything by his clock and then you came back and- you know what, nevermind.” So it’s definitely not just Len. For some reason, Barry has gravitated towards him strongly enough that it clearly has unsettled Cisco. 

So that’s good. That’ll make things easy. _Definitely_.

“We only stopped for lunch after talking to Jesse,” Len assures. “The last thing I want to do is come between you and Barry, alright? If he’s telling me things he isn’t telling you, it’s probably because he doesn’t have a lot of other people to confine in and he doesn’t want to make you pick sides between him and Wells. I just happen to be around and know the situation.” Fortunately, this does seem to set Cisco at ease. 

“I don’t think you’re coming between us,” he promises. “It’s just-” he hesitates. Mick gives Len a mute side glance. 

“It’s just what?” Len asks. Cisco sighs. He glances back out the way Barry usually comes and goes and then around a little as if to make sure the area is clear. Once he’s sure it’s mostly safe, he comes closer to them so he doesn’t need to speak as loud. 

“Barry really is nice, okay?” he insists. “But he’s been through a lot and has some- _quirks_? You kind of have to learn how to deal with things with him sometimes so he doesn't- snap.” This entire conversation hurts Len in the chest. He still remembers having conversations like these with his sister; delicate warnings to try to keep her out of harm's way without blandly having to tell her their dad didn’t _like_ her. 

“Cisco.” 

Cisco nearly jumps out of his skin. He takes a breath to calm himself before hurrying back behind his console to answer Barry. Mick gives Len a sympathetic look and Len sighs. He knows their Barry, their _Flash_ , isn’t good but when it’s just the two of them, it’s very easy to forget he’s _not_ Earth 1 Barry. Hearing Cisco like this just reminds him of exactly how bad things are around here. 

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Cisco asks immediately. 

“Jesse’s dead, Axel’s unconscious, uh, somewhere, I’ll find him in a second,” Barry assures. Len winces but he hopes Barry’s right. That doesn’t sound particularly good for Axel. “I have a lot of poisoned people here, can you figure me an antidote in, forty five minutes?” 

“This is why we need Caitlin here,” Cisco hisses quietly to himself. He paces for a moment and clenches his fists in frustration before answering. “I’ll need to know what the poison is. Can you get me a sample?” 

“Yeah. Bringing one by. Dropping Axel off in a cell, too. Safest place for him until we hand him over,” Barry says. “On route.” 

“Do either of you,” Cisco says slowly. “Know anything about toxicology?” Len and Mick look at each other before shaking their heads. “Great! Let’s go! I need extra hands so we don’t kill a whole bunch of people.” Mick angrily throws his work down again. 

“ _Why do I even bother_?” 

X

Len doesn’t have to wait around for very long, as expected. Her perks up when Iris enters Jitters and she spots him immediately, beaming happily and waving him down as she comes over. He pushes a cup of coffee towards her and she hums as she joins him at the table. 

“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she says. “Thanks for the coffee.” 

“I shouldn’t be seeing _you_ here considering you were poisoned yesterday but I can’t say I’m surprised that didn’t stop you,” Len replies in amusement. Iris rolls her eyes. 

“Don’t even get me started,” she complains. “Now I’m going to have to hear about how ‘maybe the Flash is good after all’ and ‘he saved all those people’ and ‘didn’t kill a child’. I’m already over it, I swear. But you! I haven’t seen you since you disappeared and then reappeared? Eddie says you don’t remember what happened?” 

“I don’t, no,” Len agrees. “I’ve honestly been doing my best not to think about it. I meant to talk to you sooner but I got a little busy at Star Labs.” 

“You’re still working for Star Labs?” she asks with clear disapproval. Len nods. 

“It’s- a more permanent arrangement now, I believe,” he says. Considering the project went from a handful of cells to ‘why don’t you and your partner with limited help from Cisco fill an entire basement of a massive lab with extremely individualized cells _just in case_ ’, yeah, he thinks Wells wants him to stick around indefinitely. With the newly negotiated pay, Len at least doesn’t have to worry about that. 

“I guess the constant work is nice?” Iris offers sympathetically. Len laughs. 

“It’s surprisingly good work,” he assures. “Company aside.” 

“Business company or personal company?” she asks teasingly. Len takes a quiet drink of his coffee. 

“How are things with Eddie?” he asks instead. “He seems- chipper all things considered.” 

“He usually is,” Iris agrees in amusement. "It's- this Flash stuff is really getting to him, sometimes. Ever since he's been out of the hospital, he's been weird about it." 

"Weird how?" Len questions and Iris sighs. 

"Scared?" she says. "Don't hold it against him but Allen said Flash was looking for you and I don't think he touched your case until you showed back up again. He absolutely refuses to go to the ICU to take statements. I had to stop writing articles about the Flash because I'm pretty sure every time I posted one, he had an anxiety attack. Not that he would ever say that." Len was wondering why she stopped all of a sudden. 

"That's understandable," he says and gives her a sympathetic look. "He putting on a hell of a brave face, I'll say that." 

"He's trying," she agrees. "But if I want to find out anything about the Flash, I'm on my own now. I guess a speedster, 'not the Flash', took Nora Allen's files from my father and now Singh has strictly forbidden him from looking into any metas period." Len almost spits out his coffee. He quickly covers his mouth with his hand and looks at her in alarm. 

"Does Allen know about that yet?" he asks urgently. 

"I don't think so," she murmurs. "And if we're lucky, it's going to stay that way. Allen might legitimately try to kill him if he finds out." That's a hell of an understatement. He needs to make sure Barry doesn't find out about that. 

But if Wells has taken them, there might be an opportunity to catch him red handed. 

"That, uh, that's actually why I wanted to catch you," Len says. "I know you do a lot of looking into the Flash-" 

"Did my dad ask you to tell me to stop, too?" Iris asks irritably. "I don't _care_ if he saved my life, he's a killer-" 

"No," Len assures. "Star Labs works with Flash." Iris blinks at him. She looks around quietly before leaning in close. 

"Have you found something?" she asks curiously. 

"Maybe," Len replies. "Regardless, if I start sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, it's not going to go well for me but if you can be discreet about it-" he encourages, trailing off. Iris lifts her chin with interest. 

"Of course I can," she assures. Len grabs her forearm.

"No, Iris. If Flash finds out about this, we're _both_ in trouble," he says. "Understand?" Iris swallows but she nods. 

"I understand," she promises. That's going to have to be good enough. 

"Don't write any of this down and don't record it," Len says. "Generic contact solution, two percent iodine, baking soda, citric acid, and whole milk." She looks puzzled, clearly, but nods all the same. He takes a business card out of his wallet and writes Lisa's number on the back. 

"This is my sister," he explains. "Text her when you have all of that. She'll bring you the rest. When you have everything, call me to _Joe's_ house. I have something to show you. Don't tell Eddie or Joe about this, alright?" 

"Len," Iris says. "You remember what happened, don't you?" He smiles at her softly. 

"I hope you feel better," he says. "You should really try to get _some_ rest after last night, you know." Iris frowns at him as he gets up and he leans into her to give her a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Start carrying your gun." 

He needs to be extremely careful who he trusts. Mick and Lisa, of course, and hopefully Iris, but even then, he needs to be careful what he tells them, too. With both Barry and Wells watching him like hawks, he can't risk anything coming back to him. The sooner he can make a solid connection with Cisco, the better, but that may very well be an uphill battle against Barry. 

He needs to get rid of Wells first and foremost. 

X

"What are you working on?" 

Len quite literally throws his pen across the room. Barry huffs a quiet laugh as he leans against the table and Len recollects himself. He sees why other people hate when he does that. 

"You _scared_ me," Len barks softly. Barry grins at him. 

"Working on something you shouldn't be?" he asks. "It's late, Len. Why are you still here?" 

"Something like that," Len replies. "I- didn't want Dr. Wells to know about it but I needed Cisco's lab. I don't think he'd react well." Barry gives him a curious look as he peers over his shoulder to what he's working on. 

"A special cell?" he asks. 

"For a speedster," Len agrees. "The normal ones should work fine but because speedsters are so fast _and_ they can phase, if something were to happen and the power to the cell stopped, they'd be at a much higher risk of escape." 

"Len," Barry says slowly. "Why are you making a speedster cell?" Len swallows. 

"For the man in yellow, Barry," he assures. 

"You think the man in yellow is going to need a cell?" Barry asks. He's standing close enough that Len can't help but wince. 

"I think he has a lot of answers that you won't be able to get anywhere else," he explains. "It's just an idea right now. If you don't like it, I'll get rid of it, but I thought you'd like the option." Barry's quiet for a long time. He looks at the half finished design and to Len's benefit, it _is_ intended for Wells. The fact that it, hopefully, will also work on Barry is just a bonus. 

"Why don't you want Wells knowing about this?" he asks. "You think he wouldn't agree?" 

"I think- I don't trust him not to find a way to use it against you," Len says. Barry arches a brow at him. "I'm sorry, Barry, but I don't trust Wells. I've seen how he looks at you sometimes and it just looks so full of contempt, I don't like it." 

"That's the only reason you don't trust him?" Barry asks. Len turns to him and sighs quietly. 

"I know I saw him move his leg," he admits. "If he's lying about that-" 

"What else is he lying about," Barry finishes. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" 

"Wells made me uncomfortable from the beginning, honestly," Len confesses. "I thought I was just looking for reasons not to like him. He's smart and I don't want to give him any ideas on how to hurt you. That's all." 

"You're that worried about me?" Barry asks suspiciously. "Why?" 

"I don't always like what you do as the Flash, Barry, but I know you do it because you want to protect this city. You made that very clear when you spared Axel," Len says. "Someone has to protect you." 

Even if it's strictly from himself. Barry exhales quietly and laughs. 

"That's a first," he murmurs. "I really appreciate that, Len. I'm not used to people actually caring about me. The fact that Cisco does still floors me sometimes." 

"I know how that feels," Len assures. "I never knew my mother and my sister's mother hated me almost as much as my father did. But I had Lisa and later, Mick. We watch out for each other. Always have." Barry smiles. 

"You and Mick, are you together? You share an apartment, don't you?" he asks. Len scoffs a laugh. 

"People think that a lot. We've tried a couple times but when it comes to intimate relationships, we just want _very_ different things," he assures. "Like ice and fire, hm? One of us would always have to hold back." 

Barry kisses him. It's so out of nowhere and catches Len so off guard, he freezes up for a few seconds. He had a bad habit with the other Barry of not knowing when they were flirting and obviously that isn't any different here. Hastily, he pushes Barry off of him and Barry looks at him questioningly. 

" _Cisco_?" Len demands shortly. "Barry, he's-" 

"Not my boyfriend, Len," Barry says with a cocked brow. "We're not dating." 

"That's- then you're misleading him," Len insists. 

"Cisco's the one that didn't want to commit," Barry replies. He looks at Len's schematics again and grins as he pushes off the table. "And just so you know, you wouldn't have to 'hold back' with me." 

So, Len's mixed wires are a lot more outwardly obvious than he thought. He holds his chest once Barry is gone and tries to still his rapid heartbeat. 

That felt _exactly_ like Earth 1 Barry. 

Len hates it. 


	8. Chapter 8

Len isn't sure where to go from here. 

He's waiting to hear from Iris, of course, but in retrospect he's not sure he's going to. She has no reason to trust him and more so, no reason not to believe he isn't working _with_ the Flash. As far as he's aware, they haven't exactly seen eye to eye up until now, either. That being said, if the Flash wanted to do her malicious harm, he probably just would. 

Again, Len is perplexed by Barry's seemingly internal rules and codes. It's not surprising that he has them, Len just isn't sure what they're built on or why. 

Beyond that, he's in between a bit of a rock and a hard place. He can't make a move on Wells without someone likely dying, he can't move on Cisco without both Wells and Barry questioning his intentions, Barry's now made a move on _him_ which Len is having trouble unpacking, and any plans he could make hinge on having at least _some_ back up. Mick and Lisa just aren't going to cut it here; not against Flash. 

Len clicks his pen anxiously as he waits to hear back from Zoey about Axel's trial. Barry was able to stick to his word, fortunately, and talk the DA into only trying him as a juvenile. Beyond that, he thinks they have a solid case for an insanity plea considering Axel is diagnosed and usually heavily medicated. The best outcome they can hope for is minimal amount of time in a criminal asylum or, barring that, a lenient stay in Iron Heights with plenty of mental professionals tending to him. 

"Busy?" Cisco asks. Len looks at him questioningly. 

"I suppose not? Is something wrong?" he asks. 

"No, Barry's just working on an odd case so I'm looking into some stuff," Cisco explains. 

"Odd how?" Len questions.

"Apparently some guy got stung by a bunch of bees? Like a lot of bees. Like a truly ridiculous amount of bees that no one should have been able to be stung by," he says. "And get this- no bee bodies. At _all_." 

"So you think it's a meta?" Len asks. 

"Bingo. I'm trying to narrow down some search results to see if we can find out where they could be," he says. 

"And what do you need my help with?" Len asks. Cisco hesitates. So he doesn't need help. "You just want my company, don't you, Cisco?" 

"Barry's out and Wells is working on some dark matter data," he says. "Usually Caitlin would come and, I don't know, soundboard with me? I'm not really used to- being around here alone? Does that sound pathetic?" Len huffs a soft laugh. 

"No," he assures. "Of course, Cisco. I don't mind." He follows Cisco back to his lab and listens as he rambles on about bees and algorithms. A lot of it is kind of lost on Len but he listens and follows along as best he can. Cisco returns to his work station and Len finds a place nearby to sit with his journal and watch. He remembers the other Cisco did this a lot too but he had Harry to 'soundboard' with; someone supremely more helpful. Len is very knowledgeable just in very specific things and none of them quite this. 

It's nice watching Cisco work, though, and hearing his thought process as he works his way through the task at hand. It does seem he was only interested in the company as he isn't phased by Len not helping much- or at all, really. Bees are interesting, sure, Len knows literally nothing else about them besides that. He designs inner city buildings; he's never needed to know about bees. 

"Unless," Cisco says suddenly. Len arches a brow as he stops what he's doing and looks back at him. "Unless they aren't real bees." 

"Like wasps?" Len asks. 

"No, like they're not organic," Cisco urges. Len just gives him an even more puzzled look. He hastily rifles through some of his things and unburies some papers to show Len. These Len can make even less sense out of. "Here, look. I was helping Ray with some theories for his suit recently. He was gonna come down here but I, uh, told him not to. I know he's not a meta but I don't think Barry would have liked it. But, anyways, If someone could use tech like this to make micro machines, you'd have your own personal army of robotic bees." 

"Could someone do that?" Len asks. "This seems- complicated." 

"Someone smart, yeah," Cisco assures. "Someone really, _really_ smart." 

"So we'd be looking for someone with the resources and brains to do something like this," he confirms. Cisco plops down beside him to think. "What about the other labs in Central City. They'd have some of this- material, right?" 

"Right," Cisco agrees. "That would be as good a place to start as any. If we could get a hold of one of the bees, I'd be able to figure out more." 

"Think Barry could do that?" Len asks. 

"Probably," Cisco murmurs mildly. Len arches a brow at him. 

"Something going on between you and Barry?" he asks. 

"What? No," Cisco assures. "No, we're fine." 

"Are you two dating?" Len asks. Cisco turns a sudden pink and he rambles out some sounds too quickly. 

"Not- not exactly," he finally says. "I- did he tell you we were?" 

"He told me you didn't want to 'commit'," Len admits. Cisco turns darker red. 

"What- I- Why would he tell you that?" he huffs irritably. "It's not- it's not like that. I like Barry, he just has priorities, okay? And I'm still- getting used to the whole liking dudes thing? Barry's the first- I've never dated a guy before." 

Len finds himself at an unfortunate crossroad here. He doesn't want to encourage Cisco into a relationship with Barry for obvious reasons but the alternative isn't any better. Even if Len rebuffs Barry as well, if Cisco finds out Barry's interested in him, he likely won't take it well especially if Len tries to talk him out of dating Barry. His options are either encourage Cisco further into an abusive relationship or warn him away and likely drive a wedge between them thanks to Barry's fleeting affections. Neither option he likes very much. 

If the situation were different, Len would come right out and tell Cisco what had happened but all things considered, he doesn't see that going over well. Either Cisco gets mad at Barry, which ends poorly, gets mad at him, which Len doesn't want, or thinks he's lying, which is a bad way to start earning his trust. 

"Are you actually interested in Barry?" Len asks softly. "Or are you only interested in him because he's interested in you?" Cisco huffs an awkward laugh and blows a raspberry. 

"I- what's that supposed to mean? I _like_ Barry," he assures. "I mean, I wish some things were different but I- this- this really isn't any of your business, actually. No offense but mine and Barry's relationship is between me and him." 

"Or lack of one?" Len murmurs. 

" _Alright_ ," Cisco says shortly. "I'm gonna go call Barry and see if he can get us one of those bees. It might still be a meta! Maybe a meta that can shrink things or, I don't know, make very tiny robots with their brain." Len offers a mute grin and Cisco hastily leaves the room. 

Not quite how Len wanted that situation to go but he's averted having to make a choice for now. He knows he's going to have to deal with this problem sooner or later and he's not looking forward to it. Neither outcome is going to be great for getting Cisco to trust him. 

X

"These things are _ridiculous_ ," Cisco says in awe. "Like, seriously, the amount of tech in something this size is hella advanced." 

Mick stares at the jar housing a single bee on the cortex and scoffs, unimpressed. Barry arches an amused brow but other than that, doesn't seem to have much to say about the matter. If they've soundly decided this isn't the work of a meta, it goes without saying Barry isn't interested anymore. In addition, they haven't caused any damage to the city, either, only killed some people also not metas. He might not go after them as Flash but considering the case is already on his desk, he'll at least help the CCPD bring them in as a CSI.

More of Barry's strange code. 

"I think Mercury Labs would be a good place to start," Wells says. "All the victims are or used to be employees there. If anything, it sounds like someone has a grudge. Work this intricate and expensive would need a sizable lab and connections to resources as well, easily provided by a lab like Mercury." 

"Not sure they're going to be happy to see us again," Cisco murmurs unsurely. "We did kind of get her tachyon device stolen." 

"What the hell is a tachyon?" Mick asks mildly. 

"It's a particle that's in a constant state of traveling faster than light," Len murmurs. Cisco looks surprised.

"That's not a thing," Mick says. 

"Theoretically, they shouldn't be, no," Wells agrees. "But after the particle explosion, we've seen many things that shouldn't be. These tachyons appear to be directly related to speedsters though we're not entirely sure how, or why, yet." 

"What did this device do?" Len asks curiously. 

"It absorbed them," Cisco explains. "Uh, as far as we know. We never actually got to, you know, see it in action or anything. We kind of used it as bait to try to catch Reverse Flash and lost it. Listen, I just don't like 'Reverse Flash'. What was wrong with 'Professor Zoom'?" 

"Not the time, Cisco," Wells says in amusement and continues definitely not being Reverse Flash. 

"What did Reverse Flash want with the device?" Len asks. 

"We're not really sure," Cisco admits. "Like I said, we don't exactly know what it does so we don't even know the applications of it." Len's going to make a really stupid play here but at this point, he needs to do something. 

"Could he be using it to charge himself?" he suggests. "If this device harnesses tachyons, perhaps he's using it to augment his speed?" 

"That- that's actually an interesting idea," Cisco murmurs. Wells stares at Len. "Why would he need to be faster? He already can outrun Barry." 

"Maybe he's a sprinter," Mick suggests. "Fast in short bursts, shitty in marathons." Barry's also staring at him. Len feels in danger, unsurprisingly. 

"Maybe there's something wrong with him?" Cisco muses curiously. "If it worked- where is he? And if it didn't, what did it do to him?" 

"Perhaps now isn't the time to be theorizing about the man in yellow?" Wells reminds them. "I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for that after we make sure Mercury's employees are safe." 

"Right," Cisco agrees. "If she'll take my calls, I'll talk to McGee. Even if she doesn't want our help, she should know her employees are being targeted. Maybe she'll even have some idea of who might want to do that? I'll see what I can do." He heads off to his lab and an eerie silence passes over the cortex. Len might have played his hand a little fast and loose here. Both Barry and Wells are staring at him in an extremely unnerving way though neither of them speak until Cisco is well out of range. 

"Have you worked with tachyons before, Mr. Snart?" Wells asks. 

"Dillion, uh, Rosa Dillion? Was actually a particle physicist," Len explains. "Or wanted to be one? I don't actually remember. Regardless, she liked to talk about it and tachyons came up more than once." 

"And you think Reverse Flash could charge himself with these?" Barry asks. 

"I'm- not a particle physicist," Len assures. "Or an expert on metas. I don't know but if the tachyons are related to speedsters, I can only imagine it has to do with their speed. If this device truly absorbed them then I'd have to be led to believe he needs more of them- or doesn't want you to have them." 

"It is possible, I suppose," Wells murmurs thoughtfully. "Though if he wanted to use it to steal _your_ speed, you would have to be in direct contact with the device and at its size, I hardly see that happening discreetly." Len really hopes he didn't just give Wells a new idea. Barry has changed from staring at Len to narrowing his eyes at Wells. The animosity between them is palpable. 

"Dr. Wells," Barry says. "Where did you say you got the parts for Firestorm's counter matrix?" 

Len's phone goes off. This is either really bad timing or really, really good timing. He pulls it out of his pocket to answer it. 

"This is Snart," he says. 

"Hey Len, it's Iris," Iris greets. This is, in fact, great timing fortunately. 

"Iris, hello. I wasn't expecting to hear from you," he replies. "Is something wrong?" 

"Nothing's wrong. Could you come over to my dad's house? I have some things I'd like a second opinion on," she asks. He's very glad she seems to have decided to give him a chance. Or, barring that, he's walking into a trap and Eddie and the Wests may very well end up dead. They'll just have to see, he supposes. 

Len lowers his phone minutely.

"I'm assuming my presence isn't needed here for _that_ , right?" he asks, gesturing to the robot bee. 

"I think we can handle it," Barry replies though he doesn't take his eyes off Wells. Len might come back to the lab on fire but that's better than being here in the middle of the carnage.

"Sure, Iris, I'll be over shortly. The same address as the house you want to remodel, right?" he asks. 

"That's the one! See you soon," she replies pleasantly. Len pockets his phone again. This will be a very interesting afternoon. 

"Mick, if you still have your connections to Mercury Labs, maybe she'll be more likely to talk to you?" Len suggests. Mick scoffs loudly but grumbles a noise of agreement anyways. He doesn't like any of his old colleagues but he can take the hint. 

"Yeah, whatever," he replies, already heading back for Cisco's lab. "Hey hippy! Let's go!" Len grabs his things and shoulders them to leave. Whatever happens between Barry and Wells is between them. At this point, Len doesn't actually need to prove that Wells has done anything, he just needs to convince Barry that he's a threat and Wells is doing a pretty good job of that on his own. 

"I'll see you tomorrow," Len assures. "Iris wants me to look at her father's house to see what they have to work with." Barry grabs his arm roughly when he tries to pass on the way out and Len stops. 

"Iris West," he says. "Only cares about 'the story' and she doesn't care who gets hurt because of it. Check her track record for yourself." 

"I'm not giving her a statement," Len assures. "That would be against my disclosure agreement, anyways." And he's pretty sure breaking that means less a lawsuit and more death if Wells has anything to say about it. 

"Just watch what you say around her," Barry says. "She's ruthless." 

"I'll keep that in mind," Len murmurs. Barry lets him go and he continues on his way out, trying to still his rapid heart. Regardless of what Barry says, he can't afford to not have Iris on his side. Without her, he has no access to Joe or Eddie and limited access to the CCPD. He can't let Barry talk him into doubting her. 

Len keeps an eye out to see if Barry's going to follow him but ultimately, it doesn't look like he does. It doesn't look like Joe's home, either. He knocks and it's hardly a second before Iris is opening the door, clearly having been waiting for him. 

"Len," she says curtly. Len slips past her and peers out the window before closing the blinds. "Do you really think the Flash followed you?" 

"I don't know," he admits. He makes sure the door is locked before pulling some things out of his bag. Iris gives him a peculiar look as he drills into her wall and fishes out some wires to work with. He shows her the little device that he promptly goes about installing. 

"Len, what the hell is that?" she asks quietly.

"If it works as intended, a warning system," he assures. 

"And if it doesn't?" Iris asks. 

"Then it's mostly just an eyesore," he murmurs. "Mick put it together but with Star Labs breathing down our necks, we haven't exactly had a lot of time to fine tune anything. From what we could test, though, it should be enough to alert us if Flash comes within a certain distance." 

"Really? How?" she questions, now more curious than annoyed. 

"You know how air pressure changes when a storm rolls in? When the Flash runs through, the same thing happens but much faster and much more acutely. This should pick up on that change but only if he runs near enough to it," he explains. "If he walks all the way here, well, not anything we can do about that now." 

"Len," Iris says. "What happened to you while you were gone? This is so-" she gestures to it briefly but doesn't seem to know what to say. "Before all you wanted to do was mind your own business and avoid meta stuff and now you're making warning systems?" 

"I haven't exactly been left much of a choice," Len assures. "Do you have all the stuff?" Iris looks at him worriedly but she nods. 

"Yeah, it's down in the basement," she says. Len nods and motions for her to show the way. "You're starting to seriously weird me out, Len. Are you going to start telling me what this is about?" 

"I am, yes," he promises. "I just need to be careful, I'm sorry." He makes sure the basement door is closed behind them as well not that it actually matters much. It makes him feel better mostly. Len puts his bag down and peers around briefly before shrugging out of his coat as well. This place could use a little fixing up but it's nicer than most. She's laid everything out on a counter and Len pulls a few more supplies out before opening his journal up to the right page. He's already done this twice before for Mick and Lisa and fortunately, it's not very difficult. Cisco was sure to make it accessible enough to duplicate for this very reason and Len couldn't be more grateful. 

Iris watches him curiously as he gently peels part of the cover off his journal and shakes out the photo. He hands it to her. 

"What- what is this?" Iris demands irritably. Len starts working on the contacts. 

"That's Earth 1 Barry and Iris at their wedding," he explains. Iris is speechless. 

"I- Earth 1?" she repeats. "I would _never_ \- with _Allen_?" 

"Are you familiar with the multiverse theory?" Len asks as he begins measuring and mixing various things. 

"I know _of_ it, sure," Iris agrees. She puts the picture face down with an irritated scoff. 

"Turns out, it's closer to the truth than just 'theory'. There's countless, assumedly infinite, other universes out there; other _Earths_ ," Len explains. "And with breachers and their technology, travel between them is possible." 

"You were in a different _universe_?" Iris asks. Len nods. 

"An Earth where Barry is a good man, Iris. He's nice and sweet and he loves his Iris very, very much," he says. Iris huffs a bitter laugh. 

"Barry _Allen_?" she insists. "Are you sure? Barry's borderline a psychopath. He's been trying to get my dad fired for years- _assaulted_ him more than once. Ralph Dibny? Barry almost beat him into the _ICU_." 

"That's because there's something wrong with our Barry, Iris," Len urges. "He's not supposed to be like this. He's _supposed_ to be good. He's supposed to be a _hero_." 

"A hero?" Iris snorts back. "Len, to be perfectly honest with you, I _don't_ know that Allen hasn't killed anyone. Would we _know_? He's CSI, he'd know how to cover his tracks. Not to mention he has Singh wrapped around his finger almost as bad as Eddie and my dad. He might as well run the CCPD." 

"Barry's the Flash, Iris," Len says. She's quiet for a moment. He shakes some chemicals together. 

"I knew it," she says quietly. "He- god, he really did put Eddie in the hospital." 

"I don't need to tell you to keep this to yourself, do I?" Len says. "Not Eddie, not Joe, not Singh- Barry will kill them and you. And me for telling you." Iris sits down, covering her mouth with her hand and just stares at the ground for a bit. 

"I don't know exactly what went wrong, but something did," he goes on. "The Flash is supposed to be- a beacon of _hope_. Not fear. I got to see that for myself."

"You don't think- you don't want _me_ to try to change him, do you?" Iris asks. Len laughs before he can catch himself. 

" _No_ ," he assures at once. "I don't exactly think he's going to be listening to reason from Detective West's daughter." Iris lets out a relieved breath. 

"There has to be something we can do, though, right? If we know who he is we can- we can do _something_ ," she urges. 

"We are," Len promises. "Not in the way you're thinking, not yet, but we need to be careful. Barry isn't just dangerous; he's lethal. If he finds out about any of this, I don't know what he'd do or how far he'd go." 

"You have a plan, then?" she asks. Len gives her a bit of a grimace. 

"I have ideas," he replies. "Planning around someone as- volatile as Barry is nerve wracking as it turns out. Before we can honestly do anything, we need resources." 

"Right. Eddie and my dad-" she begins. 

"You _can't_ tell them anything right now, Iris," Len reminds her sharply. "I know you think they can help but the more people that know, the more likely it's going to slip to Barry. _Especially_ with Eddie." 

"Yeah, you're right," Iris says with a soft sigh. "Then- what exactly?" 

"For now, these," Len replies. He hands her the contact case and she looks at them curiously for a moment. "Put them in. I'll show you some of what I have but again, I need to be cautious. Barry isn't stupid." Iris hesitates but she finally puts them in and blinks to set them right. Len motions her over to look at his journal. 

"Whoa," she mouths. "This is incredible, Len." 

"I'll give you the recipe for the ink but be very careful about where you keep it," he says. "Be very careful about _everything_ from now on." She nods and Len shows her some of his notes a little at a time. It's mostly schematics and compounds from Cisco but he's taken down his own fair share of useful information as well. 

"You're showing me this for a reason," Iris concludes. "What can I do?"

"Like I said, what we need right now is resources," he says. He takes out one of his business cards and switches the ink in his pen to write. "If Barry catches me looking too deep into any of this, he'll get suspicious. You, on the other hand, get into everything anyways and he doesn't seem to actually care what you're doing as long as it's not directly in his way. If you can find out what you can on these people, we'll have a good start on figuring something out. Start with Wells if you can." 

"Investigative journalism I can do," she assures with a mute smile. 

"Try not to write on blank paper. Newspaper would actually work great for this," he explains. "It shouldn't be suspicious for me to start getting coffee most mornings for the lab. If you have something to pass off, then would be the time." Iris nods as she looks at the schematics for the anti meta collar. She looks at Len with a soft frown before gently reaching to put her hand over his. 

"Are you going to be okay?" she asks. "When you told me you knew something, I thought maybe you had some proof of the Flash's identity, not that you were planning on building a resistance against him." Len laughs quietly. He nods. To her, this must seem like it's coming out of nowhere but Len is a planner, always has been. Ever since he was a kid he planned for every outcome, accounted for unlikely scenarios and impossible situations. 

His mind has been going a mile a minute since before he even returned from Earth 1. 

"That Barry?" he says, gesturing to the photo. "I know why that Earth's Iris married him. It might be too late for our Barry to be good, but it can't be too late to help him."

" _Help_ ," Iris repeats in surprise. "I'm sorry, you want to _help_ the Flash, Len? I thought you wanted to _stop_ him. Barry, he's- you can't _help_ that, Len."

"I owe it to Earth 1 Barry to try, Iris," Len assures.

"If that _Barry_ asked you to help this one, maybe he's not as good of a man as you thought," she snaps back. "People have tried to help Barry. My dad tried to help him. Eddie _tried_. Singh is _still_ trying- and you know what Barry does with that? He uses it to manipulate them!" Len frowns at her and she lets out a frustrated sigh. 

"Stopping him from hurting anyone else _is_ my first priority," he promises. 

" _Len_ ," she says. "Whoever you think _our_ Barry might be under that 'rough exterior', he's not. There's no kind heart, there's so soft middle, there's not a hidden 'beacon of hope'. He's rotten. He's always _been_ rotten. If you try to help him, you're just going to get yourself hurt. Or _worse_."

"Iris," Len replies. "Earth 1 me? A liar and a killer and a thief. The real kicker? I can _feel_ that. Everything that Lewis has done to me and my sister? Everything I had to claw through to get to where I am now? I can see exactly where I could have been just like that. Where I could have been _worse_. He changed because someone, because _Barry_ , believed in him." Iris sighs a little softer this time, looking away from him and working her mouth quietly. 

"I really don't think that's the same," she says.

"I'm sorry Joe and Eddie and Singh couldn't help Barry," Len murmurs quietly. "I'm sorry _you_ couldn't. And I'm sorry Cisco couldn't. And I _doubt_ I'll be able to, I know. I still have to know that he is _good_ somewhere in there, Iris, because if he's not-" 

Iris grips his hand a little tighter. 

"Then you're still _this_ Earth's Len," she says. "And you're still a good man. Don't let Barry weaponize that against you." 

Len slides his hand out of hers. 

"I know all the ingredients are mostly mundane household stuff, but try not to keep them together when you're making the ink," he says. Iris sighs deeply but she nods in agreement. 

"Right. I'll be careful," she promises. "I'll get right on this and get you an update as soon as I can, okay?" 

"I'd say don't rush but we are dealing with a speedster," Len murmurs. He starts to pack his things away again and stops briefly to look at Iris. She gives him a faint smile. "Thank you. I'm sorry to put this on your shoulders but you make this a lot easier." 

"Barry's had it out for my family since we were kids," Iris says. "Of course I'm going to help _you_. Just remember you watch your back, too." 

"I will," Len promises and he smiles back. He pauses before going back to packing. "By the way, and I'm not really sure how to put this gently, but you have a brother in Keystone City." 

Iris stares at him. 

"That- I _would_ talk to Joe about. When you're ready." 

X

Cisco watches as Barry runs on the treadmill. They've upgraded now so when he breaks the sound barrier, there's no risk of him taking out half the lab with him. He seems to be getting faster and faster everyday. They have no idea what he's going to pique at. Is it possible he can go lightspeed? _Faster_? They've had to dump everything they previously thought impossible so really, Cisco has no idea what Barry can accomplish. 

He can't stop thinking about what Len and Mick said and more importantly, he can't help but notice every little action Wells makes towards Barry now. There are things that aren't adding up and he can't help but pick them apart thread by thread. He can't figure out what Wells' intentions are anymore. They were supposed to be helping Barry but now? Now what? Are they just researching him? His dark matter? 

Or is Wells actually afraid of Barry? Surely he knows Barry wouldn't hurt him. They've been supporting him from the very beginning, Barry wouldn't turn on his friends like that. Cisco dreads the thought of Wells trying to do something to Barry. He knows for a fact Wells has tried to slow him down before; lame him even to keep him from improving. Cisco had deterred him from that, fortunately, but what else is Wells willing to try? 

Cisco rubs the bone shard hanging around his neck. 

More than the thought of something happening to Barry, he doesn't want anything to happen to Wells just because he got a little jumpy. Maybe Len and Mick could talk some sense into him; he stopped listening to Cisco about the same time Caitlin left but, then again, finding out about Ronnie had been stressful on all of them. Then Hartley on top of that? 

Wells has just been under a lot of stress lately, that's all. 

Cisco sighs as he paces away from the observation window. He stops and looks at the pen laying on the console. It's one of Len's sketching pens, he recognizes it easily, but he's not sure what it's doing in here. He's not actually sure Len has ever _been_ in this room and Mick certainly hasn't. Cisco looks at it and then around the room curiously before picking it up. 

X

"Here's hoping it's the first," Barry replies in amusement. Len smiles at him. It's hard for him to say for sure which of them actually initiates the kiss but it's light and sweet and tingles like static. They look tempted to take another but it feels wrong somehow. 

X

Cisco throws the pen away from himself urgently. 

"What the fuck was that?" he whispers quietly. He rubs his hands on his jeans eagerly before moving to grip his temples. The headache suddenly and rapidly forming at the front of his skull is more intense than any he's had before and nearly wants to floor him. 

"Cisco?" Barry says. Cisco jerks, turning to face him and trying to catch his breath. "Are you alright? What happened?" 

"I-" Cisco says then stops abruptly. His heart races. "Migraine. I think I should start switching to decaf with you." 

"You look like you're about to faint," Barry murmurs and he comes closer. Cisco flinches when Barry brushes some of his hair back but he doesn't get another vision and sighs softly. "Come on. You should come lay down in the lounge. I'll get you some water." 

"Y-yeah," Cisco agrees. "Sure." 

Whatever that was, he definitely did not just see Barry and Len kissing. That's just not a thing. He's just tired, that's all, with a migraine. Hallucinating apparently. Yeah, that all checks out. 


	9. Chapter 9

Cisco seems jumpier than usual which, needless to say, makes Len more than a little uneasy himself. If Barry knew anything, he would have acted already, but if Cisco has found something out, he could be sitting on it. It's hard to say for sure what or who he's worried of because Barry makes him so neurotic as it is, but he's definitely very wound up. 

"So!" Barry says as he rejoins them in the cortex. Cisco jumps at his voice. "Brie Larvan has been apprehended all thanks to Cisco; no Flash needed. And Tina McGee should be out of the ICU in a couple days. Turns out she's not allergic to bee venom and got just a little under a lethal dose." Cisco flinches when Barry rubs his shoulder but he returns Barry's smile sheepishly. As far as Len can tell, Barry doesn't seem to have gotten any more aggressive than usual since Cisco's change in behavior. More so, Cisco seems to flinch at _most_ things- not just Barry. 

"That's good to hear," Wells says, giving Cisco an approving smile as well. "I'm glad she's going to be alright. You did a good job, Cisco." According to Mick, Tina 'barely recognises Wells after his wife's death'. A convenient cover for, say, someone disgusting himself as a completely different man. Len doesn't need anymore proof that Wells really is Reverse Flash but what he does need is a way to reveal him without putting anyone else in danger. 

"What's wrong, Cisco?" Barry asks. "Still not feeling well?" 

"No, I guess not," Cisco murmurs back. "Sorry. I'm glad everything worked out." 

"You should come lay down," Barry insists. He takes Cisco's hand and almost immediately, Cisco freezes up. Mick moves like he's ready to lunge, unsure of what's happening but not about to let Barry hurt Cisco so easily. That being said, Barry looks just as confused and concerned as they do. 

Wells, however. 

"Cisco?" Barry urges worriedly. " _Cisco_." He snaps out of it suddenly, yanking away from Barry and nearly tripping himself in the process. After a moment, he seems to realise where he is again and stabilizes himself on the console. 

"Cisco," Wells says slowly. "You briefly went catatonic. Are you alright?"

"I'm- I don't know," Cisco admits. "You're right, I'm gonna go lay down." 

"I'll come with you," Barry assures. 

" _No_ ," Cisco says at once then winces away from Barry and his own outburst. "Sorry. I'm- I'm okay. I'm sure you have other things to do." Barry frowns as Cisco wanders off to the lounge. He looks at Wells who looks back at him with a perplexity he didn't have before. 

"I can go talk to him," Len offers. 

"Sure," Barry agrees. "When he's feeling up to it, Wells should check him out in the medbay." That's definitely not something that's going to happen if Len can help it especially because he's pretty sure Cisco's meta ability is beginning to emerge. He had only seen the other Cisco open breaches but from what he understands, he's capable of a lot more than that. Whatever's happening may very well be a part of that. 

Len exchanges a look with Mick before heading to follow Cisco into the lounge. Needless to say, he's not laying down but instead sitting with his head in his hands. If he's realised he's meta, it makes sense why he would be jumpy. Assuming Barry would be 'cool' with this development would be a massive mistake. 

"Cisco," Len says and Cisco urgently snaps his head up to look at him. He relaxes again when he sees he's not Barry and sighs deeply. 

"I'm fine," he assures again. "I probably hit my head too hard or something. That's all." Len makes sure the door is closed behind him before coming to sit beside Cisco. He flinches at the contact but when nothing happens, is more relieved than anything. 

"You're a meta," Len says quietly. Cisco jerks away from him. 

"I'm not!" he snaps back. "I- that- that doesn't even make _sense_. What are you trying to pull? What did Barry say?" 

"Cisco," Len says placidly. "I can't explain why I know this right now but you _know_ how much danger you're in now. Barry _can't_ find out and we can't talk about it here." Cisco swallows. He grips the necklace under his shirt and tries to control his breathing as it rapidly spirals into panic. Len reaches under the sleeve of his coat to take off the band he's wearing and hands it to Cisco. 

"What is this?" he asks suspiciously. 

"It'll suppress your meta abilities," Len explains. 

"You're a meta?" Cisco asks, lowering his voice even more. Len shakes his head. 

"No," he assures. "But I can't explain why I knew there was a strong chance you would be, either. I don't think this will hide the dark matter in your system, however, so you _can't_ let them scan you." Cisco hesitantly takes the band. 

"Where did you get this?" he asks but, desperate to not have to deal with this, he puts it on anyway. "Let me guess- can't tell me?" 

"Not yet," Len says. "It's too dangerous right now." 

"Dangerous how?" Cisco insists. "What do you think is going to happen? What- what do you know, Len?" Len sighs. He wanted an opportunity to actually gain Cisco's trust but with the situation quickly beginning to grow to new levels, that's clearly not going to happen. Perhaps that's a good thing, though. If he can get Cisco to trust him now, and if he can then get things to work out in his favor, then they have a clear path forward past anything to do with Barry's affections. If not- Len doesn't really want to think about it. 

"I know who Wells really is," he says. Cisco blinks in alarm. "And he _will_ hurt you if you're not careful." Inherently, Cisco seems to understand not to ask anymore questions right now. Star Labs isn't the place to talk and until Len has a better handle on things, he doesn't want to risk Barry catching him with Cisco alone somewhere else. 

"Thank you," Cisco says and he raised his wrist so he knows it's for the band. 

"Of course," Len replies. "If it doesn't work, let me know. We did our best but it wasn't exactly our area of expertise." Cisco nods but again, doesn't ask any questions. He's obviously rattled right now, anyways. Len regrets not asking Earth 1 Cisco more about his powers when he had the opportunity. He had been hoping this would never be the case. 

"Len," Cisco says before he can leave. "You and Barry- you haven't- I mean, Barry hasn't come onto you, has he?" 

"Like I said, I'm not interested in coming between you and Barry," Len assures. While Cisco clearly isn't satisfied with this answer, it'll have to do for now. Len can't control what Barry does but hopefully he can at least manage some damage control. 

X

"Barry! Barry!" Eddie calls. Barry resumes walking without acknowledging him which, while usually more than enough to get Eddie to fuck off, doesn't work today. He actually grabs Barry's arm and nearly makes him drop his file folder before Barry angrily shoves him off. 

" _Personal space, detective_ ," he says irritably. "What's wrong with you?" 

"I'm not a meta," Eddie insists urgently. Barry arches a brow at him.

"Okay. Why do I care?" he asks.

"A meta turned _into_ me," Eddie explains, gesturing to himself. Now that gets Barry's attention. "Flash is going to see him and think I'm a meta. I don't know what to do, Barry. You hang around Star Labs, right? They can prove I'm not a meta?" 

"What happened to this meta that turned into you, Eddie?" Barry questions, tucking his folder under his arm. "Where did this happen?" 

"We were trying to arrest this guy and he just- he _touched_ me and then he _was_ me," Eddie insists. "If Flash thinks I'm a meta, I'm dead." 

"Yeah, he'd definitely kill you," Barry agrees. "You should stay inside for now. Walking into Star Labs is just going to look suspicious for you." Eddie grips the back of his head and lets out a stressed exhale. 

"Singh won't let us go after him," Eddie complains. "There's a meta running around with _my_ face doing god knows what and I can't do anything about it."

"What exactly would your plan be to do something about it, anyways?" Barry asks in amusement. 

"I don't know. Put him- put him in jail?" Eddie suggests. Barry barks a laugh. He opens his folder again and resumes his walk back up to his lab. "Wait! Barry!" 

" _What_ , detective?" Barry replies mildly. Eddie gets closer to him again and Barry walks up a few more stairs to keep him at a decent distance. 

"Can we talk? In your lab?" he asks. 

"No," Barry says. 

"It's about Iris," Eddie insists. 

"Especially no," Barry assures. 

"And-" Eddie hesitates and, again, intentionally gets closer. Barry's few precious seconds from throwing Eddie down the stairs. "It's about Dr. Wells, too." Barry stares at him for a few seconds. While he doubts Eddie would know anything about Wells, Iris might. 

"Fine," he says curtly. Eddie anxiously follows him to his lab. Honestly, Barry would think by now Eddie would have given up the ghost and changed jobs but for some reason, he's still here. The same could be said for Joe West. It's incredibly annoying at _most_ times. Barry files Larvan's folder away where it belongs before gesturing to Eddie to hurry it up. 

"What about Wells?" he asks. 

"Iris has been looking into him again," Eddie explains. This is the first Barry has heard about this. Why is she suddenly interested in him this long after the particle accelerator explosion? Is she really going so far as to try to link Wells to Flash? 

"Okay?" Barry replies. "Eddie, is there a point here?" 

"She went down to where his wife died. I guess she has a friend down there that can get her access to the local police," Eddie goes on. "I don't know _exactly_ what she's looking for but I know there's something not adding up with Wells." 

"Something like what?" Barry presses impatiently. Eddie sighs. 

"Iris thinks he set the particle reactor off on purpose," he says. "Hartley Rathaway? The kid Flash deafened? He was saying the same thing. It's not a coincidence." 

No. It's not. 

"And why are you telling me this, Eddie?" Barry asks. 

"I just want you to stay safe," Eddie assures. "I don't know what you've been doing over there or what he's been telling you, but be careful." 

"Right," Barry says. "I'll keep that in mind, Eddie. Keep me up to date on your meta doppelganger. Star Labs might be able to do something in a pinch but only if they know what's happening." Eddie nods. 

He's really just a straight dumbass, isn't he? 

X

Len rubs his eyes tiredly as he takes a break from transferring Iris' information into his journal. She's smart. Instead of newspaper, she's been giving him pictures and note pages about various design ideas for her dad's house giving Len a valid reason to have them around and more so, not making it suspicious to hand off to him. While what she's found so far could be helpful eventually, of course, none of it is exactly putting a knife in Wells' story. 

The knock gets his abrupt attention. It's late and Mick is at the apartment with Lisa. Len pulls the drawer of his desk open to put a hand on his gun. 

"We're closed," he calls. The door opens anyways and Len awkwardly palms the handle. Barry peeks into his office but that doesn't make Len drop it right away. 

"Hey Len," he greets and he holds up a bag of take away. "I know it's late. Sorry to interrupt your work." 

"It's- yeah, it's fine," Len assures. He quietly puts his gun down again and closes the drawer before trying to round up some of his papers. "I didn't know you were coming." 

"Didn't plan it that far ahead," Barry promises. He sets the food on his desk and plops down in the seat across from Len. Curiously, he looks over some of the papers Len tries to put away. "Did Iris really convince you into helping her fix up that shithole for free?" 

"I'm just offering her some advice," Len replies. His contract is pretty strict about not taking other work- for obvious reasons. Though he's good enough to figure his way through some loopholes if he needed to, again, he feels like the repercussions aren't going to be lawsuits; Wells is just going to take it as an opportunity to kill him. So no, Len isn't too interested in tempting fate right now. 

"Right," Barry says with a nod. Len tucks the papers and his journal into a different drawer. "Well, anyway, I wanted to apologise for the other night." 

"The other night?" Len repeats questioningly. 

"Yeah, it wasn't fair to put you in a position like that," Barry says. It takes Len a moment to realise he's talking about the kiss. "And you're right, it wasn't fair to Cisco, either." 

"I appreciate that, Barry," Len murmurs. He honestly wasn't expecting anything like this. It catches him off guard. 

"I obviously don't make a lot of friends and even less that I can actually trust," Barry says. Len isn't actually sure if he's done anything to actively gain Barry's trust; Barry just sort of decided Len didn't have a say in the matter. "Wires get crossed sometimes." 

"I understand," Len assures. "I know I can get a little _flirty_ without realising it sometimes. I'm sure that didn't help." Barry laughs a little. 

"Sometimes?" he repeats. Len huffs a laugh of his more.

"More than I'd care to admit, Mr. Allen," he replies. "Apology accepted." 

"Thanks," Barry says with a grin. He gestures to the food he's brought and Len nods in agreement. Late as it is, he could go for a snack, anyways. Barry unwraps a few things and offers him a box of- his favorite. Len's just going to chalk that up to a lucky guess. They eat a little. 

"I made things clear with Cisco, too," Barry says. Len tries not to choke on his rice. 

"Did you?" he asks with some strained curiosity. "How- what did you make clear, exactly?" 

"That I waited long enough for him to come around," Barry says, nonchalantly going about eating. "And if he wasn't ready for something more serious, I have other options to pursue." Yep, more or less exactly what Len was afraid of. As long as Barry didn't mention him directly, this might still be salvageable. That being said, he's not sure how Cisco is taking this. Probably not great. 

"I see," Len murmurs. "I'm sorry you two couldn't work something out."

"Cisco has his priorities," Barry says with a shrug. "It's not surprising to find out they aren't me." 

"I hope you know Cisco does care about you a lot," Len says. "Perhaps he'll come around." 

"I know. We're still friends," Barry promises. "But I didn't start anything with him looking for a boytoy. Him not wanting to commit wasn't fair to me, either." 

"I suppose not," Len agrees tentatively. They eat in silence for a few. This is a mixed bag that Len, hopefully, will be able to get something decent out of. If Barry doesn't have Cisco wrapped as tightly around his finger and if Cisco doesn't have a complete meltdown over this, they'll both be better off for it. 

"I came here to talk about Wells, too," Barry mentions eventually. Len doesn't like this either. "Iris is looking into him." Fuck. Eddie must have found out and told Barry. This isn't good. Still, there's no way Barry could have connected that to him or more importantly, claim that Len had instigated it. Iris gets into everything. "What do you know about Wells that you're not telling me?" 

The correct answer isn't 'nothing', that much is clear. Len has to give him _something_ otherwise Barry's going to think he's hiding something. He hesitates. 

"I- found a room," Len says. "I didn't go in because it gave me a bad feeling but it's not on any of the blueprints. There's something very odd about that room, Barry." 

"Where?" Barry asks. 

"Just down the hall from the north side of the cortex," he explains. "I can show you."

"No, I'll find it," Barry assures. "You think Wells put it there?" 

"He did design the building," Len says. "And as I understand, had a hand in building a fair bit of it as well back before- well, I don't think he's actually paralyzed but before the accident." 

"Do _you_ think he botched the particle accelerator on purpose?" Barry asks. 

"I don't really know anything about- any of that," Len admits. "But I do know that Star Labs was built to withstand an incredible force. Not only that but looking in the pipeline, it looks like it was intended to _push_ that force out and away from itself. If it was intentional, he intended to do a lot of damage." 

"Or create a lot of metas," Barry says. 

"Or," Len murmurs. "Create _you_." 

X

Eobard pauses when he rounds the corner and realises the door to the time vault is already open. This late at night? What is anyone doing in the lab except being nosey. Truly, Eobard hopes it's the architect. Ever since Snart has been back, he's been a thorn in Eobard's side. Barry was already impossible to control or, for that matter, predict but for some reason, Snart's returned presence amped that up to an even higher degree. 

If he were to disappear again, well, that would just be too bad. 

Slowly, Eobard comes closer and is, needless to say, disappointed to see it's Cisco. He silently sighs. As tight as he's wound himself around Barry, this just isn't something Cisco is going to let go and at this point, Eobard can't rely on convincing him. If he says anything about this to Barry, Eobard has an entirely new problem on his hands.

"What are you doing?" Eobard says. Cisco jumps, urgently turning away from the console to look at him in surprise. He bumps into the console and Gideon flickers on. 

"Hello Dr. Wells," she greets. Cisco turns back around in surprise and Eobard gets out of his chair. 

"Have you spoken to her?" he asks. Cisco stands frozen in place, watching in confusion as Eobard walks towards him. 

"N-no," he assures. Eobard stands in front of him, not giving him any room to escape, and frowns softly. 

"You know, Cisco, I had such high hopes for you," he says. "The things we could have done together. You're so _brilliant_." Cisco tries to hobble backwards but the console stops him. Eobard touches his cheek with the back of his hand and Cisco flinches away harshly. 

"You're exactly what I would have hoped for in a son. Then Barry came along and you were _swept_ right out from under me. Truly a shame," he muses. "To think, you were never given the chance to see your full potential." 

"Don't- don't hurt me," Cisco pleads quietly. Eobard smiles at him faintly. 

"Oh Cisco," he murmurs. "This won't hurt." The sheer look of horror on Cisco's face as he raises a phasing hand is truly delectable. He makes it quick, inserting his hand into Cisco's chest and seizing his heart. Cisco drops dead.

And changes. 

Time slows around Eobard as he realises what's happened. He's been played. This isn't Cisco, this is- the shapeshifting meta. What's more, he's been played with a trick he'd been planning on using himself. Slowly, he turns and sure enough, Barry is leaning in the doorway. A moment of silence passes between them as they both come to terms with what's going to happen next. 

"Very clever," Eobard says. Barry doesn't speak. "I must admit, I wasn't planning on being discovered this soon. I haven't had time to prepare." Like a prowling animal, Barry fully enters the room and makes no doubts about heading straight for Eobard. Eobard smiles at him. 

"You can't kill me, Barry," he assures. "You _need_ me if you want to save your mother. So we come to an impasse." Barry grabs his neck and jaw in a move that, despite everything, is surprisingly fast. Eobard holds his ground. He _knows_ Barry; he knows what Barry _wants_. He's been forced to show his hand maybe, but he still has all the high cards. A sharp, sudden pain rips across his face; worse than the familiar previous interaction. No, Barry's not _giving_ him speed this time. 

It feels like a part of his _soul_ is being torn out through his throat. 

"You've made two mistakes, Dr. Wells," Barry says low and quiet as Eobard tries to pry the fingers off him. "I don't want you dead. And I don't care about saving my mother." 

That's simply not true. 

That can't be true. 

Barry throws him roughly to the floor and Eobard catches himself to the extent that he can. Everything _hurts_ and his vision swims as his body tries to adjust to the sudden difference. He can feel his speed trying to 'reboot', so to speak, and it drives his vitals sky rocketing as he rasps and pants in pain. That was more than just _taking_ his speed. Barry groans in unmistakable delight as he looks at his hand. 

"That felt good," he murmurs. "What was that?" 

He doesn't even know. Why can he do that?

"I still have what you want," Eobard assures. "No matter what you do-"

"You lose, Eobard," Barry says. Eobard bites his teeth angrily then he smiles. 

"I don't lose, Barry," he promises. "I-" 

"Fix this," Barry says, looking down at him so cold and unwavering, Eobard forgets he's even a person. "You go home." 

"I- yes, I go _home_ ," Eobard sneers back. Barry smiles at him. 

"You don't go home, Eobard," he says. 

"I go home!" Eobard barks. 

"Gideon," Barry says. "Play the video you played me earlier." Eobard doesn't look at it; he doesn't dare take his eyes off Barry. 

"Hello Eobard," the video says. Another Barry, this one much older. "If you found this on your own, congratulations, you're smarter than I have you credit for. Chances are, however, you didn't." 

Barry smiles like an angel; like a horrible, monstrous abomination looming over him made of things not this world. 

"I've just made some changes to Gideon," older Barry goes on. "No matter what you do, no matter _when_ you ask, she's going to show you the same article. Flash disappears in crisis. April 2024. Written by Iris West-Allen." 

That's not possible. 

"You lose, Eobard," the video says. 

"I go home," Eobard repeats, sure and sound. 

"You don't go home," Barry, both of them, say together. 

"I made you!" Eobard roars as he struggles to get to his feet. Barry slams into his chest, pinning him harshly to the wall. "You need me! You're nothing without me, Bartholomew Henry Allen!" 

" _I made me_!" Barry sneers back. He throws Eobard back to the ground and Eobard uses what strength he has to bolt to the door. The very act of accessing his speed causes him physical pain now unlike it ever has before. Gideon ends the video and instead, displays a new article. 

Cicada II killed by Flash. April 2024. Written by Iris Thawne. 

Eobard bolts into the cortex. The vertigo nearly floors him and he has to grab the console for support. His entire body screams in refusal so much so that he finds he can't even push himself to run again. Whatever speedforce is left in his body, there's something wrong with it. Barry just walks after him. Eobard forces himself up but actually trying to go anywhere is an entirely different feat and Barry kicks him hard in the back, flooring him honestly this time. 

"I know you!" Eobard screams. Barry grabs him by his shirt and drags him. Eobard thrashes and kicks and writhes violently as he tries to get free. "Everything that you have, you have because of me! Everything that you are is because of me! You can't do this! You don't win, Bartholomew! You _never_ win!" 

Barry physically lifts him and throws him into a cell. He catches himself on a wall but his limbs give out shortly after and he finds himself in a heap on the ground. 

"You're nothing without me! We belong together, Barry!" he roars. "No one will _ever_ love you like I do, Barry! No one will ever _hate_ you like I do! I don't lose!" 

Barry rips the release button off the wall. 

"Welcome home, Reverse Flash," he says and he _smiles_. 

X

That was- surprisingly anticlimactic. 

Len watches the video from Wells' cells but he's not really sure what to say about it. He supposes he's not surprised that once Barry hit a tipping point, he was quick and precise about it. Hitting Wells before he was ready likely caught him off guard and more importantly, must have caught him before he acquired any kind of power; physically or otherwise. Wells looks exhausted and for all the yelling he's done, he seems to be going through some kind of episode.

At the very least, Len will have some more breathing room now. Barry clearly likes him more than Wells did which may be a problem in and of itself but without _two_ speedsters watching his every move, Len might be able to get some actual work done. With Wells put away, Barry might give him more leeway than he would have before. Wells clearly had Barry on high alert constantly- and for good reason. 

Dare Len say, it may even be possible to reason with him now. Even he could see how volatile this Wells- Eobard- made Earth 1 Barry. Without Wells around to aggravate and goad him, perhaps between the three of them they can nudge him in a different direction. 

Barry drags the body out of the time vault. 

"Hannibal Bates," he says. "Shapeshifting meta. I told him I wouldn't kill him if he helped me. I also told him I'd rescue him if anything went wrong." Barry laughs. He's in a particularly good mood for obvious reasons. 

Cisco, however, isn't. He keeps staring at Wells in his cell in stunned disbelief. Mick gives Len an unsure glance. 

"What are you going to do with Wells?" Len asks. 

"You're going to build that speedster cell," Barry replies. "And he's going to stay there."

"Forever?" Mick asks uneasily.

"Or until time erases him," he assures. "I don't know if he ever exists in our timeline now. If he doesn't, time will catch up with him soon." That's a horrifying thought.

"That's it?" Len asks. "You're just going to keep him here?" 

"I have some questions for him," Barry says. "When he's ready to answer them. Maybe I'll even give him some food." That's more what Len presumed. Wells killed his mother; Barry isn't _not_ going to torture him. Even if he's not going to be so obvious about it. 

"Do we still get paid?" Mick asks blandly. 

"I'll make sure you're paid," Barry promises with an amused grin. "Just keep doing what you've been doing. This doesn't change anything, we just dealt with another dangerous meta." 

"He was here the whole time," Cisco says softly. "I never even knew. I- Barry, I didn't know anything about this." 

"Relax, Cisco," Barry urges. "I know you didn't. It's okay." No, if Barry had thought that they'd already be in the middle of a different problem. Len touches Cisco's shoulder gently to try to settle him some and Cisco urgently reaches to turn the video to Wells' cell off. 

"What- what do we do now?" Cisco asks. "Wells- _whoever_ he is- I-"

"Calm down," Barry says, a little softer this time and he motions Cisco to be quiet. Cisco bites his lip hard. "We're going to keep doing what we've been doing, Cisco. We don't need Wells for that. There's still metas out there and this city still needs someone to protect it from people like him." 

"R-right," Cisco murmurs. "Right. You're right. We should- should we look in his secret room? Do you think he's planted something in case this happened?" 

"I'll deal with the time vault for now," Barry assures. "You should take some time to deal with this, Cisco. I know you and Wells were close." 

Cisco did just find out Wells would have killed him without thinking twice. That's rough. Everything happened so suddenly, Len isn't sure how Cisco was taking Barry breaking it off with him, either. He could probably use some time to collect himself. 

"No, I'm fine," Cisco says stubbornly. "I just- I want to understand what _happened_." 

"I don't think Wells was ever who he said he was, Cisco," Len assures. "You _couldn't_ have known." 

"He wasn't," Barry agrees. "He's always been Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, and he would have killed you sooner or later, Cisco. He was just using you and when you stopped being useful, he wouldn't have hesitated to get rid of you." Unfortunately, Barry's probably right. Eobard's intentions are even more unclear than Barry's. 

"Cisco's right, though," Len says. "We should check the vault. This plan had to be years, decades even, in the making. There has to be something." Barry looks at Cisco with a frown but ultimately he nods in agreement. 

"Alright," he says. "If you're sure." 

It's exactly like the time vault of Earth 1. Len supposes he didn't expect it to be different but it feels weird here. Cisco shrinks to Mick's side as they gather inside and Barry stands at the console. He waves his hand over it and Gideon wakes back up. 

"Hello Barry Allen," she greets. 

"Hello Gideon," Barry replies. "They want to ask you some questions." 

"Certainly," she says and she nods. This is a very dangerous game for Len. Asking the wrong question or getting the wrong answer may put them all in danger. 

"What the fuck are you?" Mick asks blandly. 

"I am Gideon," she replies. "I am an artificial intelligence created to assist the Flash. Professor Thawne installed my operating system here as to prevent timeline changes from affecting me." 

"Professor Thawne?" Cisco repeats in bafflement. "What- what do you know about Eobard Thawne?" 

"Professor Thawne is a speedster from 2151. He came to this era to kill Barry Allen but due to unforeseen circumstances, was unable to do so. He then killed Nora Allen in anger. This created a time ripple that crippled his connection to the speedforce and made him unable to return home," she explains. 

"2151?" Cisco murmurs. "You're from the future?" 

"Yes," Gideon says. 

"And so is Wells. I- why did he want to kill Barry?" he asks. Len watches Barry curiously but he doesn't seem to be reacting much to any of this. Has he already been in here? Does he already know all this? 

"Barry is his mortal enemy," Gideon answers. 

"What did Barry do to him?" Cisco urges. Barry smiles a little but he just drops his head. 

"I'm sorry, I can not access that information," Gideon says. "The timeline has changed." 

"Does Eobard Thawne exist in the new timeline, Gideon?" Barry asks. 

"Yes," she replies. 

"Does he time travel in this future?" he asks. 

"No," Gideon says. 

"Do you know what will happen to this Eobard?" he asks.

"He is a time remnant," Gideon explains. "It is unclear what will happen to him in the long term if he is unable to return to his native time." 

"You said you were created to help the Flash?" Len asks tentatively. "By who?" 

"Barry Allen," Gideon says. That's what Len was afraid of.

"What do you help him do?" he asks.

"That data's been erased," Gideon says. 

"She says that a lot," Barry assures. "Someone's wiped a lot of her data. Assumedly, someone that doesn't want us to know too much about our future."

"Assumedly," Len agrees. What he does know is that there's still a Flash and that Barry creates her as an aid. That's- Len isn't sure. He's not sure what to take away from this yet. 

"What's the timeline like right now, Gideon?" Barry asks. 

"Timeline is in flux," Gideon replies. "The future is uncertain." 

"Is that- bad?" Mick asks wearily.

"No," Gideon answers. "It means the future is uncertain." 

"Thanks, ya damn machine," Mick scoffs back. Cisco rubs his temples quietly. 

"Actually," he murmurs. "I think I do need a nap." 

"Agreed," Len says and Mick nods. 

"Go get some sleep," Barry insists. "I'm gonna stay and talk to Gideon some more. Eobard said some things I'd like to fact check." 

"Are you going to be okay?" Cisco asks. Barry nods. 

"Better than okay," he promises. "I finally have my mother's killer locked away. I think things are going to get a lot better from here, Cisco." Cisco smiles at him. 

Len should give a message to Iris as soon as possible. 


End file.
